Ubisoft trekt volgend jaar de stekker uit XDefiant

Hoewel XDefiant een sterke start kende met veel spelers, doken na enige tijd geruchten op dat het aantal spelers snel weer was gedaald en dat de shooter moeite had om nieuwe mensen aan te trekken. Ubisoft bleef echter volhouden vertrouwen in de game te hebben en er mee door te blijven gaan, tot volgend jaar dan.

De uitgever heeft nu aangekondigd dat de game op 3 juni 2025 offline zal gaan. Het derde seizoen zal nog van start gaan, maar daar blijft het bij en dit seizoen zal geen content meer aanbieden dat in de in-game store gekocht kan worden. De game accepteert ook geen nieuwe spelers meer, dus alleen spelers die de game voor 3 december hebben gespeeld houden toegang.

Kopers van de Ultimate Founders Pack zullen hun geld terugkrijgen, net zoals mensen die andere bundels zoals de Gold Pack en Starter Pack hebben gekocht. Daarnaast krijgt iedereen die in-game valuta heeft gekocht ook hun geld terug. Hieronder het lange bericht dat Mark Rubin, producer, op X plaatste naar aanleiding van dit nieuws.

“Hello XDefiant fans,

I am unfortunately here today to announce that XDefiant will be shutting down.

Starting today (December 3, 2024), new downloads and player registrations will no longer be available. We will still release our Season 3 content in the near future (exact date to be determined) and the servers will remain active until June 3, 2025.

For those who purchased the Ultimate Founder’s Pack, you’ll receive a full refund. Players who made any purchases within the last 30 days will also be fully refunded. Those refunds should happen automatically within 8 weeks of today and you can find more details on our official website, XDefiant.com.

A few years ago, Ubisoft and the [San Francisco] development team embarked on a bold adventure to develop a new arcade shooter called XDefiant. It was from the start, an incredible challenge. Not only were we trying to shake up the genre by removing Skill-Based Matchmaking while bringing back a more “old-school” arcade shooter experience, but we were also diving into the high-risk, high-reward realm of free-to-play. And for that I want to applaud not only the development team but also Ubisoft leadership for taking that chance!

Free-to-play, in particular, is a long journey. Many free-to-play games take a long time to find their footing and become profitable. It’s a long journey that Ubisoft and the teams working on the game were prepared to make until very recently. But unfortunately, the journey became too much to sensibly continue.

I am, of course, heartbroken to have to be writing this post. Yes, this game has been a personal passion for me for years and yes, I know that not all challenges lead to victory, but I also want to recognize all of the developers who are being affected by this closure. Each and every one of them is a real person with a real life separate from our own and they have all put so much of their own passion into making this game. And I hope that they can be proud of what they did achieve. I know that I will always be proud and grateful to have worked with such a great team! A team that really punched above its weight class.

And what they achieved is truly remarkable. The early response from players when XDefiant launched was amazing—we broke internal records for the fastest game to surpass five million users and in the end we had over 15 million players play our game! That is something to be extremely proud of, especially considering how tough this genre is. So, thank you to all of the developers who put their passion into making this game!

If there’s one thing, I hope we can all take away from this experience, it’s the importance of open, honest communication between developers and players. This “player-first” mentality along with respectful, non-toxic conversations between developers and players has been one of the standout differences that made XDefiant so special. From my very first post about XDefiant, this was the vision I wanted to champion, and I hope it leaves a positive mark on how the game industry treats its players and communities.

To our players, THANK YOU! From the bottom of my heart, I want to express my deepest gratitude for the incredible community that has grown around XDefiant. Your passion, creativity, and dedication have inspired us every step of the way.

With the utmost of love and respect,
Mark Rubin, Executive Producer”