Ubisoft free-to-play shooter XDefiant was all the rage when it finally arrived on Xbox Series X and S back in May, heck, we thought the game was rather good when it first launched. However, despite a surge in players during its release window, things are apparently looking pretty bleak for the game right now.
As per Insider Gaming, workers at Ubisoft San Francisco are reportedly "pessimistic" about the game's future. This is because player numbers have "declined rapidly" since the launch of XDefiant just a few short months ago.
Worse yet, it's not just the future of the game itself that's being questioned here. Recently, Ubisoft San Fran suffered major layoffs - and the team is seemingly preparing for more of that in the coming months. Here's one of the direct quotes within the report, from an unnamed developer:
"Expect more Ubisoft San Fran layoff headlines within six months."
The report goes on to say that the higher ups within Ubisoft at large are "betting" on XDefiant Season 3 turning things around, but with Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 launching before that content drop, the team is going to have some stiff competition in the FPS world towards the end of the year.
Of course, this is all reported information at the moment, and we haven't heard anything from Ubisoft on the future of XDefiant. Either way, we hope that those who've worked hard on developing the title keep their jobs and continue to make great games for us all to enjoy.
What do you make of this? Have you stopped playing XDefiant recently? Tell us down below.
[source insider-gaming.com]
Comments 24
Let me find my surprised face.
Just goes the show that even if a GaaS starts off with some popularity, anything can change to simply kill it off.
Stop pumping out games nobody asked for
People couldn't unseat WoW in the MMO space for decades after billions and dozens of attempts trying.
You can't get people to play a new GaaS, at least of the same kind. People are committed, addicted, whatever word you choose, to the one they like.
Do a crossover with Concord, that will surely work.
damn i forgot about this game !
@Cikajovazmaj hahaha , but that ain’t fair to this game . concord had other motives while this was just simply trying to cash in on generic live service shooters 😂
things are apparently looking pretty bleak for the game right now
I hope Ubisoft will relocate the staff to other projects if things really go south with this game. Maybe resurrect BG2 and get them to work on that?
The competition in the free to play market is just too fierce and our play times finite.
I still think Concord will do worse. Not even the blind sheep want it.
I've played this quite a bit and there's an enjoyable game in there somewhere but the netcode has been broken since the first beta and they clearly can't fix it.
I put 40 hours in XD. It’s ok at best. The fact it don’t have SBMM makes it hard for players to have fun with it. I am a good player at these games, good not great. There are matches were i am like 9-14 and a guy is 40-3 or even on match 51-6. So it’s just very hard and not a fun experience. With Pro’s beating up causals it makes it feel like a game not worth the time. Once COD Black Op’s 6 comes out i will never touch XD again and i suspect many others will do the same. 6/10 for me!
The XBOX players all said the same thing forced cross play with PC players wasn't wanted however it was ignored thanks to a request from XBOX themselves that no in game option was to be included.
Removed - inappropriate
The so-called COD killer is on the ropes... What a surprise.
People talk ***** about COD, but when other alternatives pop up, they disappear to oblivion. Makes you wonder that people who actually diss COD are in a minority.
Add another one to the live service graveyard
I played it for a week and I didn't have much fun, I think the difference between veteran players and newbies is excessive, the games I played were basically revive and die every few seconds.
There was something there don't get me wrong but since it's release the updates have been lacking. Yeah they added a few new maps, and factions but where is the other stuff they said was coming? Prestige for example. Other then weapon levels there's nothing for a player to grind for.
Yeah I get it they are using an engine not designed for an FPS but still if you don't have anything for players to do they will find something else to do.
If there is a secret sauce for free to play shooters it is so elusive that you need a Laura Croft searching for it you or you will get impaled on a massive spear of corporate greed….
See I think this is the reason why no one's been able to produce a direct CoD rival. It doesn't matter how many good the game is or if you manage to deliver what CoD players want, no matter how ma y users you pry away from CoD, a new CoD is round the corner and they'll leave your game to play that one.
@abe_hikura Honestly I think it's a combination of things not just a new CoD coming out. One is the big one there's nothing to do. Also I feel that the no SBMM is great and harkins back to old school CoD today's FPS players just can't play without it, they need that safety net and sorry but you need to look at who is mostly playing your game.
Meanwhile Halo Infinite is still going strong despite all the people calling it "dead".
@PressR2 Halo Infinite multiplayer is really good, one of the best games of its kind, too bad 343 hasn't kept up with the pace of updates.
@PressR2 it’s still going , but it ain’t “strong” . let’s not kid ourselves, halo has seen way better days, and it’s not even close
Ubisoft is the ruiner of things. I loved Hyper Scape but noooo. And I played a bit of Xdefiant on Luna, it's alright.
@Gabrielmpf Depends on which kind of dissing COD. The folks who diss COD whilst playing COD are stuck with COD because of a mix of sunk costs and the fact that the community isn't going to leave with them. The folks who diss COD and don't play COD probably aren't in the market for a military shooter that plays along the same lines as COD.
The way to usurp the market for a genre is to do it either whilst the genre is rapidly expanding (as Fortnite did to PUBG), or to strike when the titan of the genre is absolutely falling apart (as Cities: Skylines did to SimCity). COD is well past it's glory days, but it's still chugging along just fine.
Sad news for me. I actually love this game and I play it almost every day and hope to be able to continue doing so.
I don’t usually enjoy online shooters, but XDefiant just has something that speaks to me, and I find it very fun and addicting. Maybe Marvel Rivals could be a good substitute if XDefiant meets a too early demise…
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