[Insider Gaming] – XDefiant is on Borrowed Time as Player Numbers Decline Rapidly

[John Elden Ring]

EXCLUSIVE - XDefiant is on Borrowed Time as Player Numbers Decline Rapidly

According to sources at Ubisoft, Ubisoft San Francisco has until the end of Season 3 of XDefiant to improve the game's bleak player numbers.

insider-gaming.com

According to several sources at Ubisoft, Ubisoft San Francisco has until the end of Season 3 of XDefiant to improve the game’s bleak player numbers.


XDefiant was all the buzz when it launched in May 2024. The game exceeded 1 million unique players in its first 2.5 hours (a Ubisoft record) and exceeded over 8 million players in its first week. Executives were thrilled at the title’s future and even reported in the company’s latest press release that XDefiant revenue contributed to its Q1 2025 financial success. But now, just six weeks from its Q1 financial report, Ubisoft HQ wants player numbers to increase by Season 3, or XDefiant risks losing its much-needed post-launch support.


Internally, optimism for the game has shifted primarily due to the game’s continuously declining player numbers and lack of player spending. One source told me that the game has been struggling to obtain 20,000 concurrent players across all its platforms, whereas another said, “They [Ubisoft] would probably be happy with that number,” suggesting that it’s now much lower. The declining numbers have created tension and anxiety within the team, with sources who spoke to me believing that more layoffs are only a matter of time.

 

[AllBizness]

Concord is miles ahead of Xdefiant in the sales chart on PS5.

 

[Neversummer]

Xdefiant was fun but again like concord the heroes have trash design & are bland in both design & personality. Not sure why they didnt use Rainbow Six Siege characters, imagine a cod like fps using R6 characters id be more interested in that because as someone who plays R6 it can get repetitive because it solely focus on 1 mode.

 

[AllBizness]

Xdefiant was fun but again like concord the heroes have trash design & are bland in both design & personality. Not sure why they didnt use Rainbow Six Siege characters, imagine a cod like fps using R6 characters id be more interested in that because as someone who plays R6 it can get repetitive because it solely focus on 1 mode.

Xdefiant is not a hero shooter, it's a COD PvP clone which is also not a hero shooter. Concord being a hero shooter actually has alot more depth then Xdefiant.

 

[Vertigo]

Xdefiant has heroes. Part of why it sucks

 

[Shmunter]

Damn, suprised. Thought it would be a hit. Played it some, but the colourful asthetic and idiotic characters just take me out of the experience. When you have COD, there is no reason to play this.

 

[Bryank75]

That GAAS trend....

This is the downside to being a trend follower rather than trying to find niches or to set trends

 

[Shmunter]

That GAAS trend....

This is the downside to being a trend follower rather than trying to find niches or to set trends

I hope the bean counters are paying attention. Sony especially, they’ve neglected what made them successful to chase the dragon. Their output this Gen is embarrassing. Putting legendary single player studios like naughty dog on a gaas project is a goddamn travesty. The results speak for themselves, how many games have they launched this gen, how many years has it been?

 

[Petekilla]

I hope the bean counters are paying attention. Sony especially, they’ve neglected what made them successful to chase the dragon. Their output this Gen is embarrassing. Putting legendary single player studios like naughty dog on a gaas project is a goddamn travesty. The results speak for themselves, how many games have they launched this gen, how many years has it been?

For the 100000000 time. ND chose to make factions. Sony didn’t put them up to it. Also for the 100000000 time, games this Gen are taking much longer to make.

 

[Neversummer]

Xdefiant is not a hero shooter, it's a COD PvP clone which is also not a hero shooter. Concord being a hero shooter actually has alot more depth than Xdefiant.

Xdefiant is 100% a hero shooter. You pick different “heroes” w unique abilities. COD BO3 & COD infinite warfare where hero shooters aswell. Twisted metal is a hero shooter.

Hero shooters don’t have to be quirky/anime vibrant type heroes/universe to it be considered a hero shooter

 

[anonpuffs]

@Men_in_Boxes get ITTTTTTTTT

 

[Evilnemesis8]

Not surprised, it had an okay launch, but then it didn't have any staying in the Top 10 monthly most DL'd on PSN for F2P games. That is a pretty good metric to judge if a big GaaS game is generating enough interest and having good new user acquisition to convert into paying customers to sustain the game.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

@Men_in_Boxes get ITTTTTTTTT

Easy.

This conversation is for clowns. Multiplayer games have failed at varying degrees throughout time in memorium. When the GAAS haters find a new failure and try to paint it towards some larger narrative, it resembles clown world. We must educate these people with compassion, rational thought, and logic. It's the only way to win.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

Xdefiant was fun but again like concord the heroes have trash design & are bland in both design & personality.

Counter Strike 2 sure has exciting design and personality with its operatives right? /s

 

[Shmunter]

For the 100000000 time. ND chose to make factions. Sony didn’t put them up to it. Also for the 100000000 time, games this Gen are taking much longer to make.

Yeah, because the direction set at the top is nothing but good vibes that the studios they own can ignore and do as they please,

This instance has nothing to do with games taking longer, it's time taken away by frivolous endeavors.

 

[quest4441]

Ubislop game so I won't touch it with a 10 foot pole. Microsoft games and Ubislop games are the ones which I never buy ever.

 

[MiyazakiLovesKojima]

@Men_in_Boxes get ITTTTTTTTT

Hey, who taught you this slogan, @anonpuffs

 

[Bryank75]

Easy.

This conversation is for clowns. Multiplayer games have failed at varying degrees throughout time in memorium. When the GAAS haters find a new failure and try to paint it towards some larger narrative, it resembles clown world. We must educate these people with compassion, rational thought, and logic. It's the only way to win.

 

[BillyZ]

For the 100000000 time. ND chose to make factions. Sony didn’t put them up to it. Also for the 100000000 time, games this Gen are taking much longer to make.

Alright let's have it your way. Sony should have told them that it was stupid and to go back to working on some single player game.

 

[Killer_Sakoman]

Alright let's have it your way. Sony should have told them that it was stupid and to go back to working on some single player game.

Some times Both developers and publishers are greedy. They all want to become Netease.

However, this regard, Factions clearly wasn't imposed on ND by Sony because as we saw already , Sony canceled Factions and moved development to a singleplayer game.