Ubisoft lukker to store studier der har vedligeholdt XDefiant

For nylig bekræftede Ubisoft efter en masse rygter, at de planlægger at lukke helt ned for XDefiant i 2025, og spillet ender faktisk med kun at være live i cirka 12 måneder. Men det er ikke bare spillet der bliver lukket ned - dem der er ansvarlige for udviklingen de sidste mange år bliver nu også fyret.

Som IGN skriver har Ubisoft også bekræftet at de lukker både Ubisoft San Francisco og Ubisoft Osaka, som samlet set betyder at 277 ansatte mister deres arbejde. Det er dog kun halvdelen af holdet bag XDefiant, eftersom den anden halvdel får stillinger andetsteds i organisationen.

Chief Studios and Portfolio Officer Marie-Sophie de Waubert har sagt dette til de ansatte der har mistet deres arbejde:

"Unfortunately, the discontinuation of XDefiant brings difficult consequences for the teams working on this game. Even if almost half of the XDefiant team worldwide will be transitioning to other roles within Ubisoft, this decision also leads to the closing of our San Francisco and Osaka production studios and to the ramp down of our Sydney production site, with 143 people departing in San Francisco and 134 people likely to depart in Osaka and Sydney. To those team members leaving Ubisoft, I want to express my deepest gratitude for your work and contributions. Please know that we are committed to supporting you during this transition."

Desuden slår hun også fast, at live service-spil stadig er afgørende for Ubisoft:

"Developing Games-as-a-Service experiences remains a pillar of our strategy, and we've achieved significant successes, like Rainbow Six, The Crew, and For Honor, among others. It's a highly competitive market, and we will apply the lessons learned with XDefiant to our future live titles."

Hun nævner sjovt nok ikke Skull and Bones blandt disse succeshistorier.