Ubisoft will shut down its free-to-play shooter XDUnrulyUbisoft announced on Tuesday. The servers will remain online until June 3, 2025, but the game will no longer be available for download and player registration will be closed. Despite the sunset, XDUnruly players will have access to Season 3 content in the “near future.” Nearly 300 people – 143 in the San Francisco office and 134 at Ubisoft’s Osaka and Sydney locations – will be laid off. Second half XDUnruly the production team will move to other positions at Ubisoft, – says director of studies and portfolio specialist Marie-Sophie de Waubert.
“Despite an encouraging start, passionate team work and an engaged fan base, we have not been able to attract and retain enough players in the long term to compete at the level we strive for in highly demanding free-to-play games. “shooter market” de Waubert – wrote in an internal memo published on Ubisoft’s website. “As a result, the game is too far from achieving the results required to enable further significant investment, and we are announcing that we will end the game.”
WITH XDUnruly closures and hundreds of layoffs, Ubisoft announced that it was completely closing its production studios in San Francisco and Osaka. Insider Gaming announced the game that a “skeleton crew” will be maintained keep XDUnruly works until completely closed.
XDUnruly According to the information, players who purchased the Ultimate Founder’s Pack for $69.99 will receive a full automatic refund XDUnruly executive producer Mark Rubin in a letter to the community. All purchases made in the last 30 days will also be refunded. However, according to A Ubisoft FAQs“The Founder’s Package and the Elite Founder’s Package are non-refundable.” Rubin said players should expect to receive their refund within eight weeks.
XDUnruly was released on May 21 this year, after the project was announced in 2021. At launch, the game seemed to be a success: according to Insider Gaming, it reportedly reached 1 million players within hours of its official launch. No official player or revenue numbers have been released, other than Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot – he said during a telephone conversation with investors in September that the game did not meet expectations. in October Rubin posted on X that the numbers dropped due to “very poor marketing” – a strategy to “put the game in a better place” before increasing marketing efforts to attract fresh and inactive players. He wrote that he had been “absolutely clear” that there were no plans to close XDUnruly after the fourth season, following a report by Insider Gaming.
In its latest results report at the end of October this year. Ubisoft reported that its sales dropped by almost 20%but engagement rates on its games have increased. Ubisoft also announced that it has reduced its staff by over 2,000 people over the past 24 months, a number that is likely due to both layoffs and voluntary departures. As of September, Ubisoft employed 18,666 people and the company is reportedly “on track” to continue reducing costs. (Staff retention, it said, is good — close to historical levels). Outlaws from Star Wars underperformed, Ubisoft said, but remained noiseless on the status XDUnruly — so serene about the game that an analyst asked Guillemont about the game’s failing success. “XDefiant falls short of our expectations, but the games-as-a-service strategy remains key,” Guillemont said at the time. That stance still rings true: de Waubert said in a Tuesday notice to employees that games-as-a-service remains a “pillar” of Ubisoft’s strategy, citing success with Rainbow Six, The Crew and For Honor.
