Ubisoft responds to XDefiant game shutdown rumours

Ubisoft has responded to reports of shutting down XDefiant game weeks after delaying its upcoming Assassin’s Creed Shadows.

The shooter game’s future looked uncertain as players’ interest saw a notable drop in recent months despite a strong launch in May this year.

Reports emerged that the developer was shutting down the game with its fourth season owing to a drop in players’ participation.

Now, an XDefiants developer has revealed that there are ‘no plans’ for the shooter to end after its upcoming fourth season.

In an X post, Mark Rubin, executive producer on XDefiant at Ubisoft, wrote: “To be crystal clear there are NO plans to shut down after season four. I’ve literally been in meetings as of last week to discuss our Year 2 plans. But, right now we are super focused on improving the technical experience (which includes netcode) and adding more content for seasons three and four.”

According to Rubin, the numbers of the game were down due to the developer’s silenced marketing.

“But that is just to give the team the time to get the game in a better place before we do bigger spends on marketing to bring new players to the game and to bring back players that have left,” he said.

Last month, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said that XDefiant was ‘behind expectations’ in terms of concurrent players across all platforms.

It is worth mentioning here that Ubisoft delayed the release date of the highly-anticipated Assassin’s Creed Shadows to 2025.

In a statement on September 25, the developer said that the weak performance for the new game Star Wars Outlaws and lower-than-expected profit in the most recent quarter were among the reasons behind the delay in the release date.

Initially scheduled for a release on November 15, Assassin’s Creed Shadows will now be released in February 2025.