Ubisoft's multiplayer shooter XDefiant has officially closed down, and now game director Mark Rubin has announced he's leaving the games industry overall. He also discussed what he believes went wrong with the game, including claiming that Ubisoft gave the game "little to no marketing" and that Ubisoft didn't give the team enough resources to help it succeed after launch.
In a post on social media, Rubin said, "It's a sad day for fans of XDefiant and for all the passionate devs that worked so hard on this game." He said he thanks fans for playing and promoting it. "Every voice mattered," he said.
"I would say something remarkable happened with this game in that although we had very little marketing, we still had the fastest acquisition of players in the first few weeks for a Ubisoft title just from you guys all talking about and promoting the game," Rubin said.
He's likely referring to how XDefiant was reported to have reached 8 million players in its first week. That momentum was not sustained, and Rubin blamed this in part on Ubisoft providing "little to no marketing" support, especially after launch.
Some may question this claim, as Ubisoft regularly promoted XDefiant before and after launch, and the game featured characters based on Ubisoft's biggest franchises, including Far Cry, The Division, Ghost Recon, Rainbow Six, Splinter Cell, Assassin's Creed, and Watch Dogs. On YouTube, Ubisoft published more than two-dozen XDefiant videos aimed at hyping the game. The game's social media pages had hundreds of thousands of followers that received all the newest details as they were announced.
However, Rubin said XDefiant failed to acquire new users after its big launch, and contributed to the game's downfall.
Other issues that XDefiant faced included "crippling tech debt" in the form of the XDefiant developers "using an engine that wasn't designed for what we were doing, and we didn't have the engineering resources to ever correct that."
Rubin went on to question whether or not proprietary game engines make sense anymore. "This tech debt included the dreaded netcode issues that we could just not solve given the architecture we were dealing with," he said. "And so, for many players with solid network connections (in both speed and consistent reliability) the game played well but if your connection had even the smallest amount of inconsistency the engine just couldn't handle it and you would have a bad experience."
The developer added that his team also struggled to have "the right resources to make content for the game." He said Seasons 4 and 5 would have "completed the game in a way that I felt it should have been for launch," but the team did not have the resources to deliver it.
He said XDefiant's developers and Ubisoft leadership had their hearts "in the right place," but the game struggled because, "We just didn't have the gas to go the distance for a free-to-play game."
Some may also wonder about external factors that could have contributed to XDefiant's inability to sustain and grow its audience. It's been reported that a huge percentage of total play time in multiplayer games is dominated by only a few titles, making it challenging for new games to break through.
XDefiant's development team was laid off in 2024, including Rubin, and he's now leaving the gaming industry overall to spend time with his family.
"So unfortunately you won't be hearing about me making another game. I do care passionately about the shooter space and hope that someone else can pick up the flag that I was trying to carry and make games again that care about the players, treat them with respect and listen to what they have to say," he said.
Rubin rose to fame in the gaming industry for his work on the Call of Duty series. He was a producer on the hugely popular 2007 game Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, before producing its sequels as well. He left Infinity Ward after Call of Duty: Ghosts came out in 2013.
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In a post on social media, Rubin said, "It's a sad day for fans of XDefiant and for all the passionate devs that worked so hard on this game." He said he thanks fans for playing and promoting it. "Every voice mattered," he said.
"I would say something remarkable happened with this game in that although we had very little marketing, we still had the fastest acquisition of players in the first few weeks for a Ubisoft title just from you guys all talking about and promoting the game," Rubin said.
He's likely referring to how XDefiant was reported to have reached 8 million players in its first week. That momentum was not sustained, and Rubin blamed this in part on Ubisoft providing "little to no marketing" support, especially after launch.
Some may question this claim, as Ubisoft regularly promoted XDefiant before and after launch, and the game featured characters based on Ubisoft's biggest franchises, including Far Cry, The Division, Ghost Recon, Rainbow Six, Splinter Cell, Assassin's Creed, and Watch Dogs. On YouTube, Ubisoft published more than two-dozen XDefiant videos aimed at hyping the game. The game's social media pages had hundreds of thousands of followers that received all the newest details as they were announced.
However, Rubin said XDefiant failed to acquire new users after its big launch, and contributed to the game's downfall.
Other issues that XDefiant faced included "crippling tech debt" in the form of the XDefiant developers "using an engine that wasn't designed for what we were doing, and we didn't have the engineering resources to ever correct that."
Rubin went on to question whether or not proprietary game engines make sense anymore. "This tech debt included the dreaded netcode issues that we could just not solve given the architecture we were dealing with," he said. "And so, for many players with solid network connections (in both speed and consistent reliability) the game played well but if your connection had even the smallest amount of inconsistency the engine just couldn't handle it and you would have a bad experience."
The developer added that his team also struggled to have "the right resources to make content for the game." He said Seasons 4 and 5 would have "completed the game in a way that I felt it should have been for launch," but the team did not have the resources to deliver it.
He said XDefiant's developers and Ubisoft leadership had their hearts "in the right place," but the game struggled because, "We just didn't have the gas to go the distance for a free-to-play game."
Some may also wonder about external factors that could have contributed to XDefiant's inability to sustain and grow its audience. It's been reported that a huge percentage of total play time in multiplayer games is dominated by only a few titles, making it challenging for new games to break through.
XDefiant's development team was laid off in 2024, including Rubin, and he's now leaving the gaming industry overall to spend time with his family.
"So unfortunately you won't be hearing about me making another game. I do care passionately about the shooter space and hope that someone else can pick up the flag that I was trying to carry and make games again that care about the players, treat them with respect and listen to what they have to say," he said.
Rubin rose to fame in the gaming industry for his work on the Call of Duty series. He was a producer on the hugely popular 2007 game Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, before producing its sequels as well. He left Infinity Ward after Call of Duty: Ghosts came out in 2013.
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