Paris (awp/afp) – New setback for Ubisoft: barely six months after the launch of XDefiant, the French video game giant announced on Wednesday the closure of the servers of this online game next June and the elimination of 277 positions.
“Ubisoft today announces the cessation of development of XDefiant, its first-person shooter,” the group said in a message sent to AFP.
“This decision also results in the closure of our production studios in San Francisco and Osaka and the gradual reduction of our production site in Sydney, with the departure of 143 people in San Francisco and 134 people in Osaka and Sydney,” detailed Ubisoft.
The group behind the Assassin’s Creed and Just Dance series specifies that “half of the XDefiant team worldwide will be transferred to other functions within Ubisoft”.
“We are starting the completion process from today” (Wednesday), the game’s official account announced on X.
“Therefore, new downloads, player registrations and purchases will no longer be available” immediately, but “the servers will remain active and the game will be fully playable until June 3, 2025,” he said.
Launched in May, this “free-to-play” online shooting game (free access but with possible in-game purchases) never really managed to find its audience. Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot indicated at the end of September that he had not met the company’s “expectations” either.
“Many free games take time to find their footing and become profitable. It’s a long road that Ubisoft and the teams working on the game were willing to take until very recently,” said the executive producer of the game. game, Mark Rubin, in a message posted on his X account. “But, unfortunately, the journey has become too heavy to be reasonably continued.”
This announcement comes after the French giant published financial results at the end of October that were down sharply in the first half, after the postponement to February of the release of the highly anticipated “Assassin’s Creed Shadows” and lower than expected sales of “Star Wars Outlaws”. “, against a backdrop of rumors of a takeover of the company.
A bad patch widely sanctioned on the financial markets: while Ubisoft’s stock was trading at more than 100 euros ten years ago, it reached its lowest level in September, at 9.01 euros.
The end of game.
afp/lf
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