In May 2024, the shareware shooter xDefiant from Ubisoft was released. The game broke several publisher records at launch and attracted over 11 million players in just a few days from its release. But almost immediately the players lost interest in it, and now it has become known about its imminent closure.
A statement has appeared on the official Ubisoft website about the imminent end of support for the xDefiant game. Key points from the published message to the players:
- New game downloads and player registrations are closed as of today.
- The developers promise to release content for season 3; it will be the last for players.
- The previously announced Season 4 will not appear.
- The servers will remain operational until June 3, 2025, after which they will be closed.
- Buyers of the Ultimate Founder’s Pack will receive a refund.
- Players who have made in-game purchases in the last 30 days will also receive a full refund.
As project manager Mark Rubin noted in the announcement of the game’s closure, the development and release of xDefiant was a “daring adventure,” but the game failed to quickly become profitable:
Free-to-play goes a long way. Many free-to-play games take a long time to get off the ground and become profitable. It’s a long road that Ubisoft and the teams working on the game were willing to take until recently. But, unfortunately, the journey has become too long to continue sensibly.
Let us remember that earlier in the fall, Mark Rubin repeatedly said that xDefiant “definitely is not dying” and “the game will not close after season 4.” As a result, the shooter is closed after season 3.
