Ubisoft is shutting down its San Francisco studio and laying off 152 employees after discontinuing its free-to-play shooter XDefiant, which failed to retain enough players to justify further investment. Filed WARN documents indicate permanent layoffs take effect February 3, affecting engineers, audio specialists, producers, and artists. The company is also closing a studio in Osaka, Japan, and scaling back operations in Sydney, Australia, cutting an additional 134 jobs. XDefiant, released earlier this year to mixed reviews, struggled to compete against dominant titles like Valorant and Apex Legends. Game servers will remain active until June of next year.
In-Depth:
Video game publisher Ubisoft plans to lay off more than 150 employees as part of its plan to close a studio in San Francisco that maintains XDefiant, its free-to-play first-person shooter.
The shift will affect 152 workers, according to documents Ubisoft filed with the state. In a statement released Tuesday, the company stated XDefiant did not attract enough online players to warrant dedicating more resources to the game.
“Despite an encouraging start, the team’s passionate work, and a committed fan base, we’ve not been able to attract and retain enough players in the long run to compete at the level we aim for in the very demanding free-to-play FPS market,” the company stated. “As a result, the game is too far away from reaching the results required to enable further significant investment, and we are announcing that we will be sunsetting it.”
In California, companies are typically required to file WARN documents with the state in the case of mass layoffs. According to those documents, employees at Ubisoft’s local office will be permanently laid off on Feb. 3. Positions affected include engineers, audio specialists, producers and artists.
The company released XDefiant earlier this year to mixed reviews. Free-to-play, competitive online shooters have exploded in popularity since Epic Games released Fortnite in 2017. And while Ubisoft is behind such successful game franchises as Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry, XDefiant had to compete with massively popular equivalents like Valorant and Apex Legfinishs.
In its statement, Ubisoft stated new downloads, player registrations and purchases are no longer available, but stated Season 3 will still release and that the game’s servers will remain active until June of next year.
Apart from shuttering its studio in the city’s SoMa neighborhood, Ubisoft will also be closing a studio in Osaka, Japan, and will be “ramping down” a studio in Sydney, Australia, as part of its decision to sunset XDefiant. Between its Osaka and Sydney studios, the company will be laying off 134 workers, it stated.
