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Ubisoft is officially discontinuing XDefiant in 2025, the publisher announced Tuesday , with all new purchases and registrations being discontinued immediately. As part of the shutdown, the publisher plans to shut down its production studios in San Francisco and Osaka while ramping down its site in Sydney, with up to 177 employees losing their jobs. Roughly half of the XDefiant team will be assigned roles elsewhere. Chief Studios and Portfolio Officer Marie-Sophie de Waubert revealed the news in an email sent to Ubisoft employees that was subsequently posted online, saying that the shooter was "not able to attract and retain enough players in the long run to compete at the level we aim for in the very demanding free-to-play FPS market." The full message can be found below. Today, I wanted to share with you that we’ve made the difficult decision to discontinue development on XDefiant. Despite an encouraging start, the team’s passionate work, and a committed fan base, we’ve not been able to attract and retain enough players in the long run to compete at the level we aim for in the very demanding free-to-play FPS market. As a result, the game is too far away from reaching the results required to enable further significant investment, and we are announcing that we will be sunsetting it. Concretely, that means that as of today, new downloads, player registrations and purchases will no longer be available. Season 3 will still launch, and the servers will remain active until June 3, 2025, out of appreciation for both our dev teams who worked on it and for XDefiant’s active players. 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. 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. Globally, we are determined to take the necessary steps to put the company back on a path to growth, innovation and creativity and make sure we can set you up for success. This means continuing to radically evolve our mindset for Production and Business practices, which we will share more about soon, and doing targeted restructuring when necessary. I know that the situation brings questions and expectations, and we will share regular and transparent updates. My sincere thanks for your continued dedication as we navigate these trying times together. XDefiant Executive Producer Mark Rubin also shared a message thanking fans and saying he was "heartbroken." He also shared refund details, saying that any purchases made within the last 30 days will be fully refunded and that those who purchases the Ultimate Founder's Pack will also get their money back. Refunds should happen automatically with 8 weeks, he said. I am unfortunately here today to announce that XDefiant will be shutting down. Starting today (December 3, 2024), new downloads and player registrations will no longer be available. We will still release our Season 3 content in the near future (exact date TBD) and the servers will remain active until June 3, 2025. More like this Ubisoft Call of Duty Rival xDefiant 'Absolutely Not Dying,' Dev Insists For those who purchased the Ultimate Founder’s Pack, you’ll receive a full refund. Players who made any purchases within the last 30 days will also be fully refunded. Those refunds should happen automatically within 8 weeks of today and you can find more details on our official website, http://XDefiant.com . A few years ago, Ubisoft and the SF Dev team embarked on a bold adventure to develop a new arcade shooter called XDefiant. It was from the start, an incredible challenge. Not only were we trying to shake up the genre by removing Skill-Based Matchmaking (SBMM) while bringing back a more “old-school” arcade shooter experience, but we were also diving into the high-risk, high-reward realm of free-to-play. And for that I want to applaud not only the Dev team but also Ubisoft leadership for taking that chance! Free-to-play, in particular, is a long journey. Many free-to-play games take a long time to find their footing and become profitable. It’s a long journey that Ubisoft and the teams working on the game were prepared to make until very recently. But unfortunately, the journey became too much to sensibly continue. I am, of course, heartbroken to have to be writing this post. Yes, this game has been a personal passion for me for years and yes, I know that not all challenges lead to victory, but I also want to recognize all of the developers who are being affected by this closure. Each and every one of them is a real person with a real life separate from our own and they have all put so much of their own passion into making this game. And I hope that they can be proud of what they did achieve. I know that I will always be proud and grateful to have worked with such a great team! A team that really punched above its weight class. And what they achieved is truly remarkable. The early response from players when XDefiant launched was amazing—we broke internal records for the fastest game to surpass 5 million users and in the end we had over 15 million players play our game! That is something to be extremely proud of, especially considering how tough this genre is. So, thank you to all of the developers who put their passion into making this game! If there’s one thing, I hope we can all take away from this experience, it’s the importance of open, honest communication between developers and players. This “player-first” mentality along with respectful, non-toxic conversations between developers and players has been one of the standout differences that made XDefiant so special. From my very first post about XDefiant, this was the vision I wanted to champion, and I hope it leaves a positive mark on how the game industry treats its players and communities. To our players, THANK YOU! From the bottom of my heart, I want to express my deepest gratitude for the incredible community that has grown around XDefiant. Your passion, creativity, and dedication have inspired us every step of the way. With the utmost of love and respect, Mark XDefiant joins Concord as the latest service game to abruptly shutter not long after launch. Unlike Concord, though, XDefiant will be given a bit of grace, with its servers not due to shut down until June 3, 2025. Ubisoft also plans to go forward with releasing Season 3, though downloads and purchases will no longer be available. Hello XDefiant Fans, I am unfortunately here today to announce that XDefiant will be shutting down. Starting today (December 3, 2024), new downloads and player registrations will no longer be available. We will still release our Season 3 content in the near future (exact date...— Mark Rubin (@PixelsofMark) December 3, 2024 First announced in 2021, XDefiant endured several delays before finally launching in May. We wrote in our review , "XDefiant joins the free-to-play shooter crowd as a respectable competitive FPS built around various Ubisoft franchises, but little makes it really stand out." Despite middling reviews, XDefiant got off to a fast start, pulling in a million unique players within two and a half hours, but its momentum soon dissipated. In October, Rubin acknowledged that players numbers were down while denying persistent shutdown rumors . XDefiant's impending shutdown adds to Ubisoft's woes in 2024 , which has included lower-than-expected sales for major releases , delays , and other setbacks. Its share price collapse reportedly has the Guillemot family and Tencent considering taking the company private . It's far from the only publisher to struggle in 2024 though as game developers of all sizes have been racked by abrupt shutdowns and layoffs . Kat Bailey is IGN's News Director as well as co-host of Nintendo Voice Chat. Have a tip? Send her a DM at @the_katbot.Best Buy's official Black Friday sale went live this week — and the deals and doorbusters do not disappoint! From now through actual Black Friday (November 29), you can expect the latest and greatest tech deals from popular brands like Apple, Sony, Ninja, Dyson and more. One of my personal favorite deals is on the Samsung's 65” The Frame TV, which boasts a $700 discount . If you're looking to stock up on smart home devices, brands like Blink, Ring and Eero are now offering up to 50% off . Best Buy's Black Friday sale is also the perfect excuse to get a head start on your holiday shopping list, with epic markdowns on headphones, laptops, gaming devices and more. Some of the deals and doorbusters will only be available to My Best Buy members, so be sure to join today for just $49/year . New deals will be rolling out all weekend (and week) long, so be sure to bookmark this page and check back often. (For more ways to save, check out our guide to this week's top Best Buy coupon codes ). Quick Links Editor's Choice Headphones & Speakers Apple Gifts Home Appliances TVs
President Joe Biden on Tuesday welcomed as "good news" a US and French-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, saying he hoped it could be a springboard to peace in Gaza too. The deal will come into force at 4:00 am local time (0200 GMT) Wednesday, Biden said as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office announced his ministers had approved the deal. "I have some good news to report from the Middle East," Biden, who is due to leave office in less than two months, said in a speech in the Rose Garden of the White House. "I just spoke with the prime ministers of Israel and Lebanon and I'm pleased to announce that their governments have accepted the United States' proposal to end the devastating conflict between Israel and Hezbollah." Biden thanked French President Emmanuel Macron for his "partnership in reaching this moment." The deal is a rare boost for Biden as he prepares to leave the White House and hand over to President Donald Trump on January 20. Trump has appointed some key Israel hawks in his cabinet. Biden said the deal was designed to be a "permanent cessation of hostilities" between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah, after more than a year of cross-border fire and two months of all-out war in Lebanon. Under the agreement, the Lebanese army would take control of the border area on their side and "what is left of Hezbollah and other terrorist organizations will not be allowed... to threaten the security of Israel again," he said. The United States and France would ensure the deal was fully implemented but there would be no US troops on the ground, he added. Biden said the deal "heralds a new start for Lebanon" but could also lead to wider peace in the tense Middle East. The United States, Turkey, Egypt, Qatar and Israel would "make another push" in coming days for a ceasefire in Gaza, where Israel is still at war with Hamas following the Palestinian group's deadly October 7, 2023 attack on Israel. Washington would also push for a long-hoped-for deal to normalize relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, he said. dk/md Get any of our free email newsletters — news headlines, sports, arts & entertainment, state legislature, CFD news, and more.
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Police arrested a 26-year-old man on Monday in the Manhattan killing of UnitedHealthcare’s CEO after they say a Pennsylvania McDonald's worker alerted authorities to a customer who resembled the suspected gunman. The suspect, identified by police as Luigi Nicholas Mangione, had a gun believed to be the one used in Wednesday’s attack on Brian Thompson , as well as writings expressing anger at corporate America, police said. Here are some of the latest developments in the investigation: Mangione was taken into custody at around 9:15 a.m. after police received a tip that he was eating at a McDonald’s in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 85 miles (137 kilometers) east of Pittsburgh, police said. Mangione was being held in Pennsylvania on gun charges and will eventually be extradited to New York to face charges in connection with Thompson’s death , said NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny. In addition to a three-page, handwritten document that suggests he harbored “ill will toward corporate America,” Kenny said Mangione also had a ghost gun, a type of weapon that can be assembled at home and is difficult to trace. Officers questioned Mangione, who was acting suspiciously and carrying multiple fraudulent IDs, as well as a U.S. passport, New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a news conference. Officers also found a sound suppressor, or silencer, “consistent with the weapon used in the murder,” the commissioner said. He had clothing and a mask similar to those worn by the shooter and a fraudulent New Jersey ID matching one the suspect used to check into a New York City hostel before the shooting, Tisch said. Kenny said Mangione was born and raised in Maryland, has ties to San Francisco and that his last known address is in Honolulu. Mangione, who was valedictorian of his Maryland prep school, earned undergraduate and graduate degrees in computer science in 2020 from the University of Pennsylvania, a university spokesman told The Associated Press on Monday. He learned to code in high school and helped start a club at Penn for people interested in gaming and game design, according to a 2018 story in Penn Today, a campus publication. His social media posts also suggest that he belonged to the fraternity Phi Kappa Psi. They also show him taking part in a 2019 program at Stanford University, and in photos with family and friends at the Jersey Shore and in Hawaii, San Diego, Puerto Rico, and other destinations. The Gilman School, from which Mangione graduated in 2016, is one of Baltimore’s elite prep schools. Some of the city’s wealthiest and most prominent people, including Orioles legend Cal Ripken Jr., have had children attend the school. Its alumni include sportswriter Frank Deford and former Arizona Gov. Fife Symington. In his valedictory speech, Luigi Mangione described his classmates’ “incredible courage to explore the unknown and try new things,” according to a post on the school website. He praised their collective inventiveness and pioneering mindset. Mangione took a software programming internship after high school at Maryland-based video game studio Firaxis, where he fixed bugs on the hit strategy game Civilization 6, according to a LinkedIn profile. Firaxis parent company Take-Two Interactive said Monday it would not comment on former employees. He more recently worked at the car-buying website TrueCar, according to the head of the Santa Monica, California-based company. “While we generally don’t comment on personnel matters, we confirm that Luigi Mangione has not been an employee of our company since 2023,” TrueCar CEO Jantoon Reigersman said by email. Mangione comes from a prominent Maryland family. His grandfather Nick Mangione, who died in 2008, was a successful real estate developer. One of his best-known projects was Turf Valley Resort, a sprawling luxury retreat and conference center outside Baltimore that he purchased in 1978. The father of 10 children, Nick Mangione prepared his five sons — including Luigi Mangione’s father, Louis Mangione — to help manage the family business, according to a 2003 Washington Post report. The Mangione family also purchased Hayfields Country Club north of Baltimore in 1986. On Monday, Baltimore County police officers blocked off an entrance to the property, which public records link to Luigi Mangione’s parents. Reporters and photographers gathered outside the entrance. Luigi Mangione is one of 37 grandchildren of Nick Mangione, according to the grandfather's obituary. Luigi Mangione's grandparents donated to charities through the Mangione Family Foundation, according to a statement from Loyola University commemorating Nick Mangione’s wife’s death in 2023. They donated to various causes ranging from Catholic organizations to colleges and the arts. One of Luigi Mangione’s cousins is Republican Maryland state legislator Nino Mangione, a spokesman for the lawmaker's office confirmed Monday. Police said the person who killed Thompson left a hostel on Manhattan's Upper West Side at 5:41 a.m. on Wednesday. Just 11 minutes later, he was seen on surveillance video walking back and forth in front of the New York Hilton Midtown, wearing a distinctive backpack. At 6:44 a.m., he shot Thompson at a side entrance to the hotel, fled on foot, then climbed aboard a bicycle and within four minutes had entered Central Park. Another security camera recorded the gunman leaving the park near the American Museum of Natural History at 6:56 a.m. still on the bicycle but without the backpack. After getting in a taxi, he headed north to a bus terminal near the George Washington Bridge, arriving at around 7:30 a.m. From there, the trail of video evidence runs cold. Police have not located video of the suspect exiting the building, leading them to believe he likely took a bus out of town. Police said they are still investigating the path the suspect took to Pennsylvania. “This just happened this morning," Kenny said. "We’ll be working, backtracking his steps from New York to Altoona, Pennsylvania,” Kenny said. Associated Press reporters Lea Skene in Baltimore, Matt O'Brien in Providence, Rhode Island, and Cedar Attanasio in New York contributed to this report.OTTAWA—When U.S. president-elect Donald Trump rattled global markets with a new threat of a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian and Mexican products and additional tariffs on China, it jolted the Canadian dollar and nerves at all government levels, led to predictions of a recession in 2025, and kicked off bitter partisan shots on Parliament Hill. The early days of a new Trump era suddenly look a lot like the old days, only worse. The Liberal government did not rule out retaliation — possibly a tariff war — if Trump goes ahead with his threat, just as Ottawa levied reciprocal dollar-for-dollar tariffs against the U.S. in 2018 during the bitter NAFTA renegotiation talks — a trade counter-punch that Chrystia Freeland said Tuesday worked. Freeland, the deputy prime minister and finance minister, Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc, and other cabinet ministers said Canada “shares” Trump’s concerns about border security and is intent on beefing it up where necessary, but insisted the overall Canada-U.S. relationship is “balanced and mutually beneficial.” “The fact is, we need them and they also need us,” Freeland told reporters. She pointed to Canadian exports of oil, hydroelectricity, critical minerals and metals the U.S. relies on, all of which could face a sudden 25 per cent price hike for American consumers and businesses. Some economists suggested Canadian oil exports could eventually find new markets, but automotive, manufacturing, and other business leaders said Tuesday a 25 per cent surcharge would be devastating for most other Canadian export sectors. University of Calgary Prof. Trevor Tombe updated a report he wrote for the Chamber of Commerce with a more dire prediction on “X” that 25 per cent across-the-board tariffs would hammer the Canadian economy, cause a recession, and lead to a loss of $2,000 in real annual income for people. For months, the Trudeau government has told Canadians it was getting ready for the prospect of an incoming Trump administration. It knew he’d campaigned on a 10 per cent tariff on all on global imports. It was braced for surprises. Yet on Monday night, Trump’s vow to exact a “big price” on Canada and Mexico and his lumping of Canada together with Mexico as a source of fentanyl and illegal immigration to the U.S. still landed like a bombshell, sources admitted. Trump, in his statement on his Truth Social platform, claimed “thousands of people are pouring through Mexico and Canada, bringing crime and drugs at levels never seen before.” On his first day in office, he now says he would levy and keep a 25 per cent tariff in place “until such time as drugs, in particular fentanyl, and all illegal aliens stop this invasion of our country!” Trump’s aggressive move sent the Canadian dollar and Mexican peso into a fall in overnight markets. Premier Doug Ford , who chairs the Council of the Federation, said it was “unfair” and “insulting” for Trump to compare Canada to Mexico. “It’s like a family member stabbing you right in the heart.” Asked if Canada should respond in kind if Trump slaps a 25 per cent tariff on goods shipped into the U.S., Ford said: “Hopefully we won’t come to that. But if it does, there is no choice. We have to retaliate.” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau immediately called Trump’s team Monday night, but the call resulted in no pullback by Trump, or dialing down of the threat. Trudeau told the Commons they talked about “how important it was for us to work together to solve some of the challenges we are facing as a continent and as countries, but also work to grow our economy and protect our workers on both sides of the border.” The prime minister essentially argued Canada is not the same problem Mexico is — rather it’s a solution to American concerns about border integrity. A senior government official told the Star the call lasted about 10 minutes, with the first few minutes spent on niceties and catching up, and was not confrontational. Still, at the end of it, Trudeau and his inner circle recognized Trump’s threat must be taken seriously, that Trump has set a deadline at his swearing-in date, and so the government must spend the next two months to avoid that. The sense of urgency pervaded Parliament Hill Tuesday. The Commons was to hold an emergency debate Tuesday night, and Trudeau said he has convened a first ministers’ meeting Wednesday night, at 5 p.m. to hash out how to handle the incoming Trump administration , and the potential crisis posed by his latest threat . It remains unclear if Trump is staking out a tough initial negotiating position, or trying to scare foreign investment capital away from Canada and Mexico. The renegotiated North American trade pact is up for review in 2026 and Trump has boasted since his re-election that he fixed it in his first term. Known here as the Canada-U.S.-Mexican-Agreement or CUSMA, that deal protects duty-free trade among the three countries, and mostly prevents the use of tariffs on each other. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said a tariff war would put “our common businesses at risk,” Associated Press reported. “It is unacceptable and would cause inflation and job losses in Mexico and the United States,” Sheinbaum said. Inside and outside the Commons, the prime minister issued a call for Canadian political leaders to set partisanship aside and show a united front in a “Team Canada approach” to Trump. However, Trudeau’s call didn’t bridge the deep partisan divide on Parliament Hill. Outside the Commons, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said Trudeau and Freeland were surprised by Trump’s threat because they are “weak,” and that “if necessary” he would be willing to retaliate against any Trump tariffs, although he did not specify in what manner . Inside the chamber, Poilievre erroneously said Trump made the threat after Trudeau had called him, lambasting Trudeau for having no real plan other than a “Zoom call.” “Where is the plan to stop the drugs and keep our border open to trade?” Poilievre demanded. Trudeau retorted Poilievre “is just making stuff up” — Trump’s threat preceded and prompted their call — and resorting to slogans and fear-mongering. “We are going to continue to work constructively with the incoming administration to protect Canadian jobs, to protect Canadian growth and to take the responsible approach that is not steeped in partisanship,” the prime minister said. New Democrat Leader Jagmeet Singh said, “The only thing a bully responds to is strength. Where is our plan to fight back? Where is the war room? Where is a concrete plan to bring our issue before CUSMA? Why is the prime minister not fighting like hell for Canadian jobs?” Trudeau said the “idea of going to war with the United States” is not what anybody wants, and his government would not react by “freaking out the way the leader of the NDP seems to be.” Two premiers — Alberta’s Danielle Smith and Quebec’s François Legault — backed Trump, with Smith posting that he “has valid concerns related to illegal activities at our shared border.” “I think that the concerns expressed by Donald Trump are legitimate,” said Legault, speaking in Quebec City. “I understand that the problem is far worse on the Mexican border, but the fact remains that when you look at what’s happening on the Canadian border, especially in recent years, there’s been a significant increase in the number of illegal immigrants going through Canada to arrive in the United States. So Mr. Trudeau, more than ever, now must present a plan, a plan to properly protect the border on both sides.” NDP Premier Wab Kinew of Manitoba said Canada could more quickly invest in defence and border security to allay Trump’s concerns. ult agreed a 25-percent tariff would hit many sectors hard, and lead to “tens of thousands” of job losses. Asked if Canada should retaliate in kind with tariffs, Legault appeared skeptical. Quebec sends $87 billion in exports to the U.S. “We export twice as much as what we receive from the US. So the last thing we want is a trade war. We can’t rule it out, but I think we need to do everything we possibly can to avoid it.” With a file from Robert Benzie
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