Is XDefiant’s Assassin’s Creed Faction Arriving Too Late?

Earlier this year, Ubisoft, the renowned French publisher famous for titles like Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry, launched XDefiant, a multiplayer-exclusive first-person shooter. Some fans quickly labeled it a “Call of Duty killer,” and it indeed got off to an impressive start across all platforms. A staggering 1 million unique players joined in just two and a half hours, making it the most quickly played game in Ubisoft’s history—a remarkable feat for a free-to-play title. In the month of its debut, XDefiant even ranked among the top 10 most-played games on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S, surpassing long-standing favorites like Rainbow Six: Siege and Roblox.

However, XDefiant’s initial success proved to be short-lived. By August 2024, whispers began to surface that Ubisoft might be considering closing down the recently launched FPS due to a downward spiral in concurrent player counts. While some Ubisoft developers staunchly refuted these claims, the rumors were confirmed by December of that year. Ubisoft announced that XDefiant would cease operations in June 2025, just after celebrating its first anniversary. The company also stated that development would halt, although the pending third season was scheduled for release as planned. When Season 3 finally hit on December 18, it was warmly received by fans but arguably arrived too late to make a meaningful impact.

The third and final season of XDefiant offers a substantial expansion compared to previous updates, as it melds content originally slated for future seasons. At its core is a new faction inspired by the Assassins of Assassin’s Creed fame, providing players a more strategic approach to battles. Gamers choosing the Assassin faction unlock abilities like the Hidden Blade, Cherry Bomb, Eagle Vision, and Apple of Eden.

Hidden Blades allow for one-hit melee eliminations, Cherry Bombs disable foes in a designated area, Eagle Vision facilitates enemy tracking, and the Apple of Eden offers temporary teleportation close to other players.

In addition to the Assassins, XDefiant’s final update introduces two other factions: the Wolves inspired by Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Breakpoint and another drawn from Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon’s Omega Force. Apart from this, Season 3 is bursting with fresh maps, modes, progression systems, cosmetics, and a plethora of bug fixes—too many to cover in just a few paragraphs. One standout addition is the Enchanted Forest map, which includes a collectathon-inspired mode paying homage to Rayman Legends.

Given this volume of content in XDefiant’s third season, it’s apparent that Ubisoft wasn’t originally planning to close the game so soon. The abrupt decision to pull XDefiant from digital storefronts, rendering it inaccessible to those who hadn’t yet downloaded it, was a letdown, especially for those who hoped for its reign as the “Call of Duty killer” to be a lengthy one.

It’s obvious from the polished content of Season 3 that Ubisoft’s developers poured their hearts into XDefiant. Yet, perhaps they should have introduced some of these features earlier to boost interest during the months post-launch. If XDefiant was struggling to sustain its player base, an injection of new content from Season 3 might have revived its fortunes. Instead, the publisher chose to walk away from the FPS, not granting it the second chance it arguably deserved. While it’s unfortunate how things turned out for XDefiant, at least fans can relish its newest offerings before its closure next year.