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XDefiant was a free-to-play first-person shooter game developed by Ubisoft San Francisco and published by Ubisoft. The game was released for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S on May 21, 2024. It received mixed reviews from critics.
On December 3, 2024, Ubisoft announced that XDefiant would permanently shut down, with new player registrations and downloads no longer available, and the servers were sunset after a final update later that month. On June 3, 2025, the game fully shut down and was taken offline.
The setting of the game revolves around factions called "Defiants", that previously appeared in other Ubisoft franchises. This includes The Division, Ghost Recon, Rainbow Six and Splinter Cell from the Tom Clancy's brand as well as Assassin's Creed, Far Cry and Watch Dogs. Defiants are customizable with traits, abilities, devices, weapons and items. It has 6-versus-6 linear game modes (such as "Domination" and "Escort").
On April 17, 2023, shortly after the launch of the game's closed beta, XDefiant became one of the top games to be streamed on the Twitch streaming platform, gaining around 50k viewers and passing the combined popularity of and .
During the Ubisoft Forward presentation on June 12, 2023, Ubisoft announced an open session, which started on June 20 for closed beta test participants (June 21 for all players) and ended on June 23. A Public Test Session was announced solely for PC started on September 28 and ended the following day. Ubisoft planned the game to release in early-to-mid October, however the game ultimately missed this window. This delay was the result of the open session, which had "surfaced some inconsistencies in the game experience", director Mark Rubin announced that XDefiant release was delayed temporarily, with the game ultimately releasing the following year.
In August 2024, following layoffs at numerous Ubisoft studios including the game's lead developer, Ubisoft San Francisco, it was rumored that Ubisoft was considering ending support for the game, as the concurrent player count had dropped below 20,000 players. On October 15, 2024, the game's executive producer, Mark Rubin, addressed the rumors of the game's imminent closure and stated that it was not being canceled at that time. He further stated that plans for Year 2 content were still in place, reassuring players that updates and future developments were underway. On December 3, 2024, only 7 weeks following his denial of the game's closure, Rubin announced that Ubisoft would be discontinuing development of the game, with new player registrations and downloads stopping the same day and automatically refunding previous 30-day sales and DLC costs back to players. Lead developer Ubisoft San Francisco was also announced to be closing as a result. The servers were later shut down on June 3, 2025.
The Year 1 Roadmap initially included four seasons with 12 new weapons, 12 new maps, four new factions, four battle passes, as well as other new content and fixes.
The first season was announced along with a release date of July 2, 2024, during the Ubisoft Forward 2024 event. Content included three maps, with one map coming out per month, three new weapons, the GS-Kommando faction from , Capture the Flag mode, ranked progression rewards, and more in-store items and bundles. The studio also revealed an XDebrief event centered on the new season, scheduled to occur a day before the season's release.
The second season launched on September 24, 2024, with the Highwaymen from Far Cry New Dawn joining the game as a new faction.
The third and final season launched on December 18, 2024, with three new factions joining the game: the Assassins from Assassin's Creed, the Wolves from Ghost Recon Breakpoint and Omega Force from .
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