XDefiant will soon shut down its servers and its executive producer reflects on what went wrong

XDefiant, the competitive free-to-play shooter from Ubisoft, launched with the promise of offering gameplay focused on fun, avoiding the skill-based matchmaking system. However, after its launch, the game faced harsh criticism for a lack of content and technical issues, leading to a rapid decline in the player base. Despite its promising start with 8 million players in the first week, Ubisoft has decided to shut down the XDefiant servers in July 2025 due to its poor performance.

The game called to dethrone Call of Duty is dead

During its early betas, many players praised XDefiant for its frantic pace and mechanics reminiscent of Call of Duty, suggesting it could be a strong competitor in the genre. However, the lack of significant updates and content after launch tarnished the gaming experience. As time went on, improvements and updates arrived late, contributing to the steady decline in the number of active players.

Mark Rubin, executive producer of XDefiant, has openly criticized Activision’s monetization approaches in its Call of Duty franchise. In a message on Twitter, he emphasized that many games have prioritized maximizing economic gain from players through tactics such as FOMO (fear of missing out) and EOMM (engagement optimized matchmaking). Rubin argued that game quality should be the main priority, suggesting that studios like Larian Studios, creators of Baldur’s Gate 3, have a more quality-focused approach than aggressive marketing.

With the imminent closure of XDefiant, the debate surrounding monetization strategies and content quality in competitive shooters continues, leaving the community with more questions than answers about the future of this type of title.

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