Despite its successful launch, XDefiant is now struggling to retain players. According to a new report, Ubisoft developers working on the game fear it could lead to more layoffs.
On August 29, Tom Henderson claimed that XDefiant has been struggling to reach 20k concurrent players across all platforms, citing a person familiar with the matter. Another source told Insider Gaming that the situation could be even worse.
- The decline in player interest has naturally resulted in lower spending on in-game purchases.
- According to Henderson, there is a growing tension and anxiety within the team, with developers saying that the management refuses to take responsibility for the recent failures.
- Ubisoft bosses want the team to improve the metrics with the upcoming Season 3, or XDefiant risks losing its post-launch content support.
- The issue is that Season 3 launches shortly after Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, which is expected to grab the attention of a mass audience as usual.
- “Expect more Ubisoft San [Francisco] layoff headlines within six months,” one source told Insider Gaming, implying that the company could start cutting jobs soon due to XDefiant’s lackluster performance.
Launched on May 21, XDefiant is a free-to-play multiplayer shooter developed by Ubisoft San Francisco. The game surpassed 3 million players in just two days, crossing the 8 million mark in its first week. It also peaked at around 300k concurrent users across PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5 at launch.
As of June 28, XDefiant had over 11 million unique players. In its Q1 financial report, Ubisoft said XDefiant has exceeded its expectations, calling it one of the company’s main revenue drivers. CEO Yves Guillemot added that “we continue to grow the audience at a steady pace and plan a quarterly roadmap of content that will allow us to firmly establish the game over time.”
According to Henderson, Ubisoft laid off 45 employees earlier this month, including around 10 people working on XDefiant.