Star Wars Outlaws Underperforms, Outsold by Jedi: Survivor
Ubisoft's Star Wars Outlaws, the franchise's first open-world title, is facing significant challenges. Released in August 2024, the game has underperformed commercially, falling short of Ubisoft's sales projections and leading to a sharp drop in the company's stock price. This underperformance is further highlighted by reports indicating that it's being outsold by 2023's Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.
Negative player reception, particularly concerning the combat and stealth mechanics, contributed to the game's poor sales. While initial reviews were generally positive, subsequent player feedback revealed dissatisfaction with core gameplay elements. Although Ubisoft implemented updates to address these concerns, they proved insufficient to significantly boost sales.
The contrast with Star Wars Jedi: Survivor is stark. As a highly-anticipated sequel to a successful title, Jedi: Survivor benefited from positive critical reception and strong pre-existing player interest. Furthermore, a later release on PS4 and Xbox One revitalized sales.
Star Wars Outlaws' performance in Europe further underscores its struggles. It recently ranked 47th in the best-selling video games of 2024.
Despite the setbacks, Ubisoft and Massive Entertainment remain optimistic, pinning their hopes on planned post-launch DLC. The first expansion, "Star Wars Outlaws: Wild Card," featuring Lando Calrissian, launched in November. A second expansion, "Star Wars Outlaws: A Pirate's Fortune," is slated for Spring 2025 and will include the popular character Hondo Ohnaka. Whether this DLC will be enough to revive the game's fortunes remains to be seen.
