Former XDefiant Producer Comments on the Shooter's Potential Return

Mark Rubin, the video game developer who was a key figure in the early days of the Call of Duty series, has commented on the potential return of his controversial first-person shooter, XDefiant. Rubin was an executive producer on XDefiant, working under Ubisoft from 2019 before shipping the shooter in 2024. Sadly, XDefiant‘s life was short-lived, as Ubisoft pulled the plug on its support and shut down the game’s servers in June 2025.

After its reveal in 2021, fans quickly labelled XDefiant as a potential Call of Duty killer, a phrase that has often been thrown around for various other first-person shooters, such as Battlefield, Titanfall, and many more. But, just like the many others, XDefiant failed to take Call of Duty‘s throne and instead met a quick death. Although its initial launch pulled in some impressive figures, even breaking a Ubisoft record and becoming the studio’s quickest game to achieve one million unique players, numbers soon began to fall, and rumors began circulating that XDefiant was going to be shut down.

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Mark Rubin Says Ubisoft Could Bring Back XDefiant if It Wanted To

Rubin denied claims that XDefiant was shutting down, but it didn’t take long for the producer to backtrack and confirm that the shooter was indeed set to end support in June 2025. Now, nearly one year later, Rubin has responded to a fan on Twitter who asked if there was any hope of the shooter making a return, as it is “so missed.” The former developer responded by saying that he misses XDefiant too, but that its return “would be up to Ubisoft.” Rubin then states that he believes the studio could bring servers back online “if they wanted to,” but cites the ongoing troubles Ubisoft is currently having to “stay afloat.”

Who’s That Character?

Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.

Who’s That Character?

Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.

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While the entire video game industry has experienced layoffs and studio closures over the last few years, Ubisoft has been hit hard by financial struggles, numerous failed games, employee strikes, and much more. The studio recently underwent a company-wide reorganisation, which resulted in some highly anticipated Ubisoft titles being cancelled. The most high-profile title included in these cancellations was the long-awaited Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake, which was reportedly close to completion at the time of its cancellation.

XDefiant got the axe much sooner than Prince of Persia, as Ubisoft pulled the plug in June 2025, a little over one year after its PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC launch, which took place on May 21, 2024. During its 13 months on the market, Ubisoft released numerous seasonal content updates for XDefiant, each of which introduced new factions, often based around other popular IPs from the studio, such as Rainbow Six, Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, and more.

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As for Mark Rubin, the well-known developer said fans won’t see him make another video game after XDefiant. In a lengthy post on Twitter, Rubin said he cares passionately about the shooter space, but has decided to spend more time with his family and hopes that somebody else can “pick up the flag that I was trying to carry.” Unfortunately, this means that anybody hoping for XDefiant to make a triumphant comeback will need to send their requests to Ubisoft, and not Rubin, who is no longer part of the studio. But with a heavy focus on existing franchises, like Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry, the studio is unlikely to have any desire to bring back a live service title that underperformed so heavily.