A free shooter should put an end to the undisputed dominance of Call of Duty. Instead, one year after release, the end is certain.
Which game is it about? On May 21, 2024, after multiple delays, the release of XDefiant was finally happening. In this shooter, you can choose from various factions from Ubisoft titles as playable classes – including the Cleaners from The Division or the Liberators from Far Cry 6. Different PvP modes like Domination and Payload are played.
Some members of the shooter community hoped that XDefiant would finally create a worthy competitor to Call of Duty, which had received much criticism from players in the previous years. Initially, everything seemed to be going well, as the beta tests before the release appeared promising, and many players had real fun. MeinMMO editor Dariusz also found XDefiant really good in the beta.
Then the release came, and shooter fans flooded the servers of Ubisoft’s “CoD Killer,” as it was often called on social media. Industry insider Tom Henderson reported just a week after the release that the shooter had surpassed 8 million players, exceeding even the expectations of 5 million players (via Insider-Gaming).
The Decision for Final Shutdown
What happened to XDefiant? However, the success was short-lived. During the first half year after the release, there were multiple rumors and leaks announcing the death of XDefiant.
It was said that Ubisoft was not satisfied with the player numbers. Since the title was intended to be a live service game, meant to generate money for the developer over years through microtransactions, it could not meet the studio’s expectations (via Insider-Gaming).
In December 2024, the feared report followed: XDefiant is facing shutdown. The shooter will not allow any new downloads or player registrations and will only release the already completed contents of Season 3. In June 2025, the servers are finally set to go offline – just one year after the release.
Unresolved Issues and Player Exodus
What led to the fall of XDefiant? XDefiant had various problems, including servers crashing at launch. Players also complained about the netcode, as hits were often not counted. However, there were also other non-technical factors that players criticized about XDefiant.
XDefiant lacked a challenging progression system. There was nothing for players to work towards during a round. There was a constant call for the game to include something like killstreaks or score streaks from Call of Duty. A type of nuke that requires effort to achieve special success. In general, the limited amount of content was criticized, and the seasons that brought new factions, a battle pass with new weapons, and maps came too slowly. Some players had already turned their backs on the game before Season 2 started.
XDefiant Ignored the Biggest Platform on PC
Why did players leave XDefiant? When a game cannot retain its players, it must try to attract new players. However, Ubisoft limited the shooter’s opportunities by only offering XDefiant on Ubisoft Connect for PC. XDefiant was never released on Steam. For many gamers, this is the primary hub where they find and download their games. Between 25 and 35 million users are active on the platform daily (via Steam).
We Germans have a fitting proverb: “Out of sight, out of mind.” Since XDefiant was not on Steam, players looking for a shooter on the platform could not stumble upon the Ubisoft title by chance. It is possible that XDefiant quickly faded from the memory of some players because they did not see it regularly while browsing Steam.
Missed Opportunity to Beat Call of Duty
What opportunity did XDefiant miss? XDefiant was originally supposed to be released in the summer of 2023. This would have allowed the shooter to come out before Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and take advantage of the preceding Modern Warfare 2’s decline. It would have been the perfect time for the release.
Instead, XDefiant was released nearly half a year before Black Ops 6. At a time when XDefiant desperately needed to gain new players or bring back old ones, the perhaps most popular Call of Duty in years hit the market. And even though Black Ops 6 has also faced much criticism since then, the release of the shooter went very well. The head of Microsoft even revealed: Black Ops 6 broke records – never has a Call of Duty been played this much upon release
