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Ubisoft Says That XDefiant Has Fallen Behind Expectations

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot has confirmed that XDefiant has fallen behind expectations amid company struggles.

This week, the news that XDefiant is struggling went somewhat under the radar following what is arguably one of Ubisoft’s most challenging periods in recent memory. First, it was announced that Assassin’s Creed Shadows is to be delayed until early 2025, followed by several announcements at the company as a whole, including Ubisoft’s board launching an investigation into the company’s struggles.

As part of these major announcements, Ubisoft held a Trading Call Update, during which Guillemot answered questions about why the company had reduced its second-quarter revenue expectations by 30%. Nicholas Langlet of BNP Paribas asked, “So the Q2 guidance, is it only Star Wars Outlaws, or is there something else underperforming in the portfolio?”

Guillemot replied, “It mostly reflects the softer-than-expected sales for Star Wars Outlaws. We also had behind expectations for XDefiant, which we will give you a bit more detail at the end of October.” He continued, “To a much lesser extent, with a limited impact was a lower expectation for XDefiant.”

Guillemot’s comments are a stark difference from the company’s first-quarter sales report, where he reported that the game was “off to an encouraging start as we continue to grow the audience at a steady pace and plan a quarterly roadmap of content that will allow us to firmly establish the game over time.”

Last month, Insider Gaming reported that XDefiant was at risk of losing its much-needed post-launch support if it couldn’t be turned around by the end of Season 3, as the game has been struggling to see 20,000 concurrent players and an uptick in player spending. The report and subsequent community conversations led to XDefiant saying that the game “the game is absolutely not dying“, in a recent blog post.

Insider Gaming understands that the game fell below 200,000 DAU (Daily Active Users in 24 hours) throughout August but saw a 40% daily average uptick in DAU throughout its daily rewards program. While good on paper, player spending and continuous player engagement are the answers to prevent the game from going on life support. At the time of writing, XDefiant leadership still hopes that Season 3 will be the start of bringing players and their wallets back.

A silver lining for XDefiant, though, is a push to Steam. While I’ve not been told the game will come to the platform for definite yet, Ubisoft’s recent announcement that its games will be coming to Steam on Day 1 has understandably reignited the team to push for it internally. So, fingers crossed, XDefiant will make its way to Steam soon.

What do you think of Season 2 of XDefiant? Let us know on the Insider Gaming forum.


For more Insider Gaming coverage, check out the news that Deadlock topped player charts on Steam in August.

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J
J1mb0w

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67 messages 74 likes

I mean, a genre that is absolutely saturated with options. You need to release a great game and come out of the blocks fast with it.

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Captain_Fuzz

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139 messages 262 likes

I mean, a genre that is absolutely saturated with options. You need to release a great game and come out of the blocks fast with it.

Spot on, this game got delays on delays to add stuff in that cod was doing... No innovation to be seen but they can copy all the ever more annoying mtx and bloat over.

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Dangerman1337

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66 messages 65 likes

Spot on, this game got delays on delays to add stuff in that cod was doing... No innovation to be seen but they can copy all the ever more annoying mtx and bloat over.

The weird thing as pointed out by Ghost of Hope on Twitter, is that a lot of attempts to take on CoD go for Hero stuff instead of kill/scorestreaks with gives you a relatively easy way for your brain to go "I did well and got rewarded for it!" Vs passive-ish hero abilities.

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Misthios

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2 messages 1 likes

The CEO lives in his bubble world no doubt.
Step down kind Sir or go down with the ship. It's obvious that Ubisoft can't be saved this time and to be honest not many customers wants to see Ubisoft's saved.

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SpongeBob

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51 messages 92 likes

I actually like the game, spent like 150+ hours playing it but the support of the game is somewhat non existent compared to let's say COD's support. Sesons 2 just started and the net code is just bonkers

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crux

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6 messages 7 likes

I actually like the game, spent like 150+ hours playing it but the support of the game is somewhat non existent compared to let's say COD's support. Sesons 2 just started and the net code is just bonkers

Agree. They really need to improve the netcode ASAP.

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Captain_Fuzz

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139 messages 262 likes

What was the last ubisoft game to make money? Valhalla?

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crux

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6 messages 7 likes

What was the last ubisoft game to make money? Valhalla?

AC Mirage did make profit according to Insiders.

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Captain_Fuzz

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139 messages 262 likes

AC Mirage did make profit according to Insiders.

Completely forgot about Mirage, crazy to see that a dlc that was later developed into a shorter game has better reception than their headliners.

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SleepyAgent

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64 messages 49 likes

I really don't understand what the play was here.

They make a shooter than while competently made, is chasing the feeling of like 2012 / 2013 Call of Duty with hero shooter elements from 2015 Call of Duty mixed in. So it already feels dated and like we've seen it before.

The unique drive for the game, is the factions made up of recognisable stuff from Ubi franchises. But you don't play as the people from that franchise, you play generic characters associated with the faction.

Their main major competitor hits a stumble during Modern Warfare 2's run, they're unique situated to address a lot of the issues fans have with the game.

They hold a beta which is very popular and earn a lot of goodwill from the shooter community.

They then waste that goodwill by messing around for the better part of a year, as they run in place trying to sort out all the little issues that're cropping up.

They spend so long that their major competitor is able to release another game that largely addresses the main gameplay related issues that their game had based its whole identity around.

They come back a whole year later after your last console beta, with no new content.

They have a pre-season that lasts a LONG time, during which the only thing to grind for is camo and a battle pass

They allow their major competitor to ramp up their next big marketing push for their new release while they spin their wheels giving the first scraps of new content that should've been there from day 1.

"Oh we've fallen behind in expectations"

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