Live service games are no longer popular. In recent years, new multiplayer titles in the genre have been crashing one by one, unable to cope with an increasingly saturated market. Which studio has not already dreamed of reproducing the phenomenon Fortnite ? But capitalizing on cosmetics and battle passes seems simpler than it seems. Players have a surplus of microtransactions and no longer want to invest their time or money in experiences that we suspect are ephemeral. As a result, live service games struggle to generate enthusiasm and disappear as quickly as they appeared.
This phenomenon spares no one, not even PlayStation and its famous Concord. And unsurprisingly, it is now Ubisoft’s turn to admit defeat. The studio is going through a difficult time to say the least and cannot afford to lose its way. It is therefore less than a year after its launch that the FPS XDefiant admits defeat and prepares his disappearance for next year. The news comes to us fromInsider Gamingwhich has already obtained information regarding this closure. Ubisoft has not yet communicated on this subject but it will not be long.
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A phenomenon that has never taken
Last August, the teams ofInsider Gaming already stated that XDefiant lived his last moments. Despite a rather convincing start, the shooter presented as a “Call of Duty killer“failed to maintain player interest. In-game spending – such as purchases of cosmetics and passes – plummeted after the first season, forcing developers to rethink their ambitions. Still according to sourcesInsider Gamingthe game was unable to take the direction initially desired by the teams: a situation which ended up becoming a source of anger and frustration within the studio.
-XDefiant will likely close its servers in June 2025. The information collected also shows new waves of layoffs which will follow the shutdown of the game. Some employees of the San Francisco studio have already received instructions regarding their last months in the company. Ubisoft would also consider letting go of 277 additional employees, coming from the San Francisco and Osaka studios during February 2025. Season 3 of XDefiant will therefore be the last and the game will be maintained by small teams until the last day of operation.
The year 2025 has not even started yet and the situation promises to be tense for Ubisoft. Will the launch ofAssassin’s Creed Shadows in February with a new publication formula will be enough to save the furniture? The next few months promise to be decisive, to say the least.
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