XDefiant Producer Throws Shade at Call of Duty

Summary

XDefiant executive producer Mark Rubin criticizes Activision for its money-first approach with titles such as Call of Duty.
Rubin previously worked at Infinity Ward, developing some of Call of Duty's most iconic titles.
XDefiant will be shut down in June 2025, just thirteen months after its launch.

Mark Rubin, the executive producer of XDefiant, has criticized Activision for its money-driven approach to Call of Duty. In a lengthy response to an XDefiant fan on Twitter, Rubin, who was once an executive producer of the Call of Duty series, blasted the publisher for focusing solely on making "the most money possible" out of its player base and relying heavily on FOMO marketing.

After ten years at Infinity Ward, working on iconic titles such as Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Rubin would go on to join Ubisoft in 2019 as the executive game director and producer for XDefiant. The first-person shooter was released as a free-to-play game and launched for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC in May 2024. Although XDefiant reached a massive player milestone by June 2024, bringing in eleven million players and becoming Ubisoft's fastest game to reach one million unique players, the shooter is set to be permanently shut down on June 3, 2025.

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By Jake S

XDefiant Producer Blasts Activision For Money-Oriented Approach

With XDefiant's shutdown date looming, executive producer Mark Rubin has taken to Twitter to thank a fan who praised the shooter for putting fans first. In response, Rubin criticized Call of Duty, one of XDefiant's biggest competitors, for its focus on "how to make the most money possible out of the player base." Rubin went on to explain how titles such as Call of Duty rely heavily on FOMO (fear of missing out) marketing and EOMM (engagement-optimized matchmaking) matches, but notes that it "used to be just more about the quality of the game that would drive players to play." The producer then states that a game should have a higher player count because it's good, not because it has a huge marketing budget.

Rubin ends his response by telling studios to be "more like Larian, less like Activision." Larian Studios is the developer and publisher of Baldur's Gate 3, an award-winning RPG that took the gaming community by storm in 2023. While studios such as Activision continue to cause controversy with their forced microtransactions, Larian Studios recently discussed the lack of Baldur's Gate 3 DLC, noting that it would rather prioritize developer passion over potential profits, which explains why Rubin is urging other studios to be more like Larian.

While XDefiant's days are numbered, there is still time for fans to jump in and check out the game's latest content before it shuts down in June. XDefiant's final major update launched back in December, and it added a tremendous amount of content for players to check out with Season 3, including three new factions, a plethora of new modes and maps, and much more.

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