Star Wars Outlaws Gets More Bad Sales News

Summary

• Star Wars Outlaws is underperforming compared to 2023's Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.
• Ubisoft's stock price significantly decreased following Star Wars Outlaws' August 2024 launch.
• Negative player feedback regarding combat and stealth mechanics contributed to the game's poor reception.

Adding to the challenges faced by Star Wars Outlaws, Ubisoft's open-world title is reportedly being outsold by 2023's Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. Despite initially positive reviews upon its August 2024 launch, player dissatisfaction with the combat and stealth mechanics significantly impacted its performance. While Ubisoft addressed these issues through updates, this proved insufficient to reverse the negative initial reception.

This underwhelming performance resulted in disappointing sales, falling short of Ubisoft's expectations, as acknowledged by the company in September. Ubisoft's stock price plummeted shortly after Star Wars Outlaws' August 27, 2024 release, raising concerns about the publisher's future and sparking discussions about a potential privatization. Despite this, Ubisoft and developer Massive Entertainment remain optimistic about the game's potential for recovery through planned post-launch DLC.

However, a recent report by VGC and former GamesIndustry.biz journalist Christopher Dring casts further doubt on this optimism. The report indicates that Star Wars Outlaws is not only underperforming but is also being outsold by Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. While precise sales figures remain undisclosed, Respawn Entertainment's single-player action sequel clearly outperformed Star Wars Outlaws, with the latter ranking only 47th in European video game sales for 2024.

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor's Superior Sales

Several factors likely contributed to Star Wars Jedi: Survivor's success over Star Wars Outlaws. As a sequel to the already popular Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, it benefited from established brand recognition and positive critical reception upon its April 2023 release. Furthermore, a PS4 and Xbox One update released by EA and Respawn last year rekindled interest in Cal Kestis's adventure.

Conversely, Outlaws struggled to gain traction, despite ongoing updates and DLC releases from Massive Entertainment. The first expansion, Star Wars Outlaws: Wild Card, launched in November, featuring Kay Vess and Lando Calrissian. A second DLC, Star Wars Outlaws: A Pirate's Fortune, is slated for Spring 2025 and will include the popular Star Wars: The Clone Wars character, Hondo Ohnaka.