XDefiant Producer Wants Game Companies to Be “More Like Larian, Not Activision”
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There’s no denying that Call of Duty is still the king of multiplayer arcade shooters even after all these years. While the game continues to sell millions with every release, the franchise’s sheen has certainly diminished over the years.
Aside from issues with cheaters, more and more players are getting fed up with the nonstop barrage of anime, cartoon operator skins, cringey emotes, and the like. It seems it’s not only gamers who are tired of it; even developers are.
Mark Rubin, XDefiant producer and was formerly a producer at Infinity Ward, has spoken out against the Call of Duty franchise and states that the game now focuses on making the most money out of its playerbase as possible. This was a comment Rubin made in replying to an XDefiant player over on Twitter/X.
XDefiant Producer Slams Call of Duty and Activison for Money-First Focus
Rubin states, “A lot of games, Call of Duty included just focus on how to make the most money possible out of the player base. They rely heavily on FOMO marketing and EOMM matches. But I feel like it used to be just more about the quality of the game which would drive players to play. And that means making the game more player centric. i.e. less engagement based tactics and higher quality experiences for the players. Better maps, modes etc. ”
The former Call of Duty dev adds that people should play your game because it’s fun, rather than relying on a gargantuan budget to influence people to play your game. He also wants game companies to be more “like Larian, less like Activision,” referring to Larian Studios, the development team behind the highly-successful Baldur’s Gate 3, which didn’t see one expansion for it released even if it amassed millions of units in sales.
Thank you! A lot of games, Call of Duty included just focus on how to make the most money possible out of the player base. They rely heavily on FOMO marketing and EOMM matches. But I feel like it used to be just more about the quality of the game which would drive players to…
— Mark Rubin (@PixelsofMark) April 29, 2025
Rubin isn’t just hating on the Call of Duty franchise as a whole, and followed up his statement by saying, “And just want to add that there are some great people at Activision and their studios. I just think they evolved into something they weren’t and haven’t been able to escape.”
Of course, it’s not like XDefiant didn’t have paid skins and cosmetics, right? This was what another X user said, which Rubin admitted they did have FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) content, and mentioned they “barely” had any marketing budget, and this was the main way they could earn since XDefiant was a free-to-play game.
As a free to play game we did have fomo content although one of the features that was coming was a way to earn a currency by just playing to buy old content. But as far as marketing we barely had any marketing budget.
— Mark Rubin (@PixelsofMark) April 29, 2025
While I’m not opposed to skins being sold — especially for a free-to-play game — there should be a line drawn somewhere. When your military first-person shooter starts featuring an actual shark as an operator, or a character from Diablo, I’d say that’s too much. With how much Activision is earning with these skins, I don’t see it stopping anytime soon.
In case you didn’t know, XDefiant is about to sunset permanently in a few months’ time. The developers released all their planned content for multiple seasons in one go, which you can experience now for free.
In other Call of Duty news, Season 3 Reloaded of Black Ops 6 and Warzone is kicking off tomorrow, May 1, and not only will it feature new maps, weapons, but even actor, Seth Rogen.
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