There have been a lot of rumours and reports doing the rounds ever since XDefiant debuted that suggested that the game hasn't exactly performed to the degree that Ubisoft hoped. The latest rumour started swirling yesterday, and painted a very grim picture that the game was so badly underperforming that Ubisoft was planning to pull the plug after Season 4 and effectively kill the game. This rumour has come out to be false.
In a comment on X, executive producer Mark Rubin has come out and stated that XDefiant will not be going anywhere and that there are plenty of plans for the game beyond its fourth season and well into its second year.
"To be crystal clear there are NO plans to shut down after season 4. I've literally been in meetings as of last week to discuss our Year 2 plans. But, right now we are super focused on improving the technical experience (which includes netcode) and adding more content for Seasons 3 & 4."
Rubin does use this comment to confirm that player numbers for XDefiant are down however, with him attributing this to limited marketing spending as of late to ensure the team is in a better place to improve the game ahead of a larger marketing push when it's needed.
"We have done very little marketing so yes our numbers are down but that is just to give the team the time to get the game in a better place before we do bigger spends on marketing to bring new players to the game and to bring back players that have left."
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Without firm data to go on, we have no idea just how well XDefiant is performing, but one thing is for certain, it isn't the only new live-service title that is struggling as of late, as Foamstars and Concord are two of the biggest recent examples.