Ubisoft’s first-person shooter XDefiant, which launched less than six months ago with some success, will close on June 3, 2025. As part of that, the studio will close three production studios and lay off 277 employees.
New downloads, player registrations, and purchases will no longer be available starting today, however, Season 3 will launch as planned and the servers will remain online until June 3. Players who have purchased the Ultimate Founders Pack or purchased anything in the past 30 days will automatically. get a full refund within eight weeks.
“Despite an encouraging start, enthusiastic team work, and a dedicated fan base, we were unable to attract and retain enough players over time to compete at the level we aimed for in the tough playoffs. FPS market,” said Ubisoft CEO and portfolio manager Marie-Sophie de Waubert.
Ubisoft has confirmed it will close its Osaka and San Francisco studios while cutting its Sydney site. That will result in the loss of 277 jobs, or just over half of the XDefiant team, with the other half moving to other parts of the company. “I want to express my deepest gratitude for your work and contributions. Please know that we are willing to support you in this change,” said de Waubert to the departing employees.
At one point, XDefiant was Ubisoft’s fastest-growing game ever, hitting 5 million users faster than any of its other titles and eventually reaching 15 million players. However, it did not continue on that success and last month rumors began to spread that XDefiant will be closed. “The game is very far from reaching the results required for investment,” said de Waubert yesterday.
Ubisoft has been going through a rough patch lately. The company just canceled Section: Heartland before it is introduced and delayed Assassin’s Creed Shadows until Valentine’s Day 2025, following the disappointing launch of the Star Wars Outlaws. Last year, the company canceled three unannounced projects and began a restructuring program that led to more than 1,000 layoffs.
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