In perhaps an inevitable turn Ubisoft first-person shooter XDefiant is shutting down, with the game hailed as a ‘COD Killer’ set to continue operating until just June 3, 2025.
News of the shutdown was posted by Ubisoft on their official website on Dec. 3, along with a message from the game’s executive producer Mark Rubin. As of today, downloads and new player registrations will no longer be available, although existing users will be able to play until next year.
Image Credit: Ubisoft
XDefiant Is Shutting Down – What Happened To The COD Killer?
XDefiant launched in May 2024 after first being announced in July 2021. With a series of closed betas across the next two years, the game was originally planned to exist under the Tom Clancy brand (like Rainbow Six), but was later shifted to being a Ubisoft original.
When XDefiant released it surged to around three million players making one of the fastest growing game Ubisoft had ever made. However, XDefiant struggled with server issues, and a mixed critical response from players and the press.
Image Credit: Ubisoft
The game went through two seasons of live service gameplay, and even surged to 11 million players. But since then player numbers have dwindled. The final nail in the coffin might have been the release of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 in October which torpedoed the last of the games player base.
In a statement released with the shutdown announcement Mark Rubin, executive producer of XDefiant shared some of the challenges the game faced, particularly its free-to-play model:
“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.”
At times XDefiant was criticized for its large numbers of microtransactions and battle pass pricing.
XDefiant failed to kill CoD, with the latest instalment proving exceptionally popular. Image Credit: Treyarch
With XDefiant shutting down, the look for a new CoD Killer has begun. For those looking for an alternative to Call of Duty, we might recommend Delta Force, which is set to release this week. But with Black Ops 6 surging in player numbers due to a popular Zombies mode and one of the better entries in the series, it may be some time before a true CoD Killer appears.