It’s official – Mark Rubin leaves Ubisoft after the XDefiant shutdown.
While Ubisoft shooter XDefiant initially intended to compete with Call of Duty, the game’s lifecycle officially ended on June 3. Its executive producer, Mark Rubin, shared details about this dramatic failure and confirmed that he will be leaving the industry for good.
Ubisoft Live Service Failure
Last December, Ubisoft announced the shutdown of XDefiant, which initially gathered an impressive number of concurrent players. As Ubisoft’s chief studios and portfolio officer Marie-Sophie de Waubert said, the game turned out “too far away from reaching the results required to enable further significant investment.” As a result, the title ended its life on June 3.
What happened?
Mark Rubin, the game’s executive producer, took responsibility for this F2P collapse, sharing details with fans on his social media. “For one we had crippling tech debt using an engine that wasn’t designed for what we were doing, and we didn’t have the engineering resources to ever correct that,” he wrote on X. “Another issue we had was having the right resources to make content for the game. […] I can say everyone’s (devs, HQ leadership, etc.) heart was in the right place but we just didn’t have the gas to go the distance for a free-to-play game.”
It’s a sad day for fans of XDefiant and for all of the passionate devs that worked so hard on this game. I want to thank everyone who played it and everyone who promoted it whether you were a big content creator or just a fan. Every voice mattered.
In fact, I would say something…— Mark Rubin (@PixelsofMark) June 4, 2025
Although the title amassed an impressive player base, it struggled with beta issues concerning connectivity, bugs, and matchmaking. For that reason, the game shut down a little over a year after its official release.
Mark Rubin leaves Ubisoft
As Rubin shared on X, “As for me, I’ve decided to leave the industry and spend more time with my 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.”
The news suggests that Rubin is leaving the industry for good, mourning the failure of his last project. That comes as quite a surprise, considering that in September 2024, he confirmed that DefiantX was “not dying.”
What’s next?
Although Mark Rubin has retired, Ubisoft must still face internal challenges. After all, the game’s shutdown contributed to numerous job losses and the closure of two studios located in San Francisco and Osaka. Judging from the details he shared, we can assume the developer is no longer willing to invest in smaller projects, instead relying on proven ones like Far Cry and Assassin’s Creed.
Players disagree with the company’s policy, remarking that XDefiant and other F2P multiplayer games require more time to gather a solid player base. They also point out that Ubisoft ignored fan feedback and made a controversial decision, resulting in massive job losses right before Christmas.