There are many games in the shooter genre that aimed to overshadow CoD, but none were as promising as XDefiant. The shooter had strong potential and had also sparked the interest of fans, but now it is set to be shut down in less than 24 hours.
What is XDefiant? Ubisoft released a first-person shooter called XDefiant on May 21, 2024. The game was supposed to bring the genre back to its roots by traditionally foregoing SBMM (Skill-based Matchmaking) and focusing on fun gameplay. There were classes as well, but in the form of well-known factions from Ubisoft games – such as Far Cry or Splinter Cell.
Many dubbed XDefiant the ultimate CoD killer and although the shooter was often postponed by Ubisoft, it had a great chance to provide competition to Activision’s shooter. Unfortunately, the success did not last long and many issues led to the decline of its fanbase.
Ubisoft decided in December 2024 to bury XDefiant in June 2025 and take it offline. Now fans have less than 24 hours left to play the shooter before the developers take the servers offline.
The cutoff date is set for June 3, 2025. The official Discord states that the servers will shut down at 9 AM PST. That is 6 PM our time.
Many issues that Ubisoft could not resolve in time
What happened to XDefiant? The game was theoretically a success. Ubisoft expected a maximum of 5 million players, but they exceeded themselves, as up to 8 million players played the shooter. Fans of the genre had fun, the matches were varied, and the class system felt fresh.
However, the joy was short-lived, as players gradually disappeared. There were many issues that Ubisoft did not address, including:
- The poor netcode, which did not register many hits
- No progression in matches like kill streaks to work towards
- Far too little content to satisfy fans’ thirst
- Release on Steam was ignored
Moreover, Ubisoft missed the opportunity to fill the gap that CoD left behind with its titles at that time, as many fans had had enough of Modern Warfare and wanted to play something that was fun.
In an open letter, the developers then described the end of the shooter. They could not achieve a stable position in the genre and: “The journey became too exhausting to continue.” The shutdown of the servers was dated for June 3, 2025. However, fans could try out the content of Season 1-3 that Ubisoft had already completed at the time.
When exactly will the servers be shut down? The official Discord stated the time as 9 AM PST. That is 6 PM our time. Until then, you should still have time to play the shooter.
It is possible that the shooter is already offline when you want to log in today. You can also find alternatives to shooters in our large list: The 25 best shooters of 2025 – These PvP and PvE games impress with their gameplay
