Ubisoft Backpedals in Bid to Salvage Star Wars Outlaws’ Lackluster Sales (2025)

It has been a rough few months for Ubisoft following the release of Star Wars Outlaws at the end of August. Met with a lukewarm reception from both fans and critics alike, the game sold well below Ubisoft’s expectations for the title.

After Star Wars Outlaws’ supposedly poor performance, and Ubisoft putting a lot of weight on the upcoming release of Assassin’s Creed Shadows, the company is looking at restructuring some of its business model. As a part of an attempt to ensure a successful future, Ubisoft is making some big changes to help the sales of Star Wars Outlaws.

Ubisoft Made Some Questionable Decisions

Exclusivity and a Season Pass Alienated Some Players

While the reception of Star Wars Outlaws did not do the game any favors, many other factors also contributed to its lower-than-expected sales. Despite catering to the large fanbase of Star Wars fans, the game turned off many fans because of some decisions that Ubisoft made regarding its release. Despite releasing on all major consoles (outside the Nintendo Switch) Star Wars Outlaws, the PC release of the game was limited to the Epic Games Store and Ubisoft Connect.

A majority of PC gamers play their games exclusively on Steam, with some even refusing to download other game launchers entirely. There is a large debate in the PC gaming community over using game launchers outside of Steam. Many criticize other launchers for not having the same features as Steam, like community hubs, the Steam workshop, or limited refund policies.

Regardless of how one might personally feel about a particular game launcher, not releasing a game on Steam runs a huge risk of turning away many potential customers. Epic Games is likely to make lucrative exclusivity deals to drive players to download the Epic Games Store, but unless the game is a must-play, there is a large community that will ignore a game if it isn’t released on Steam.

This was not the only controversy that surrounded the release of Star Wars Outlaws, with many criticizing the game for what they considered greedy business practices. Prior to the release of the game, it was announced that the game would have a season pass, as well as a preorder bonus for the season pass being an exclusive mission for Jabba the Hutt. While Jabba is featured heavily in the main story of the game, many consider the exclusive mission as “Day 1 DLC” and putting content behind a paywall when it would otherwise be available at launch.

Likely trying to increase sales of the season pass and not anticipating the low sales of the game, many were turned off by Ubisoft immediately asking players to spend even more money to access other content. For better or for worse, money talks, and Ubisoft has recognized that something needs to change in order to increase sales in the future.

A Change in Strategy Could Turn Things Around

Ubisoft Has Stated That They Will Be Charting a New Course

Following the poor sales of Star Wars Outlaws, Ubisoft saw a massive drop in their share prices. This led to rumors of a potential buyout of the company from Tencent Media. Ubisoft has since released a variety of statements that explain the new direction that the company is taking. One major change that Ubisoft is looking to implement is releasing Star Wars Outlaws and all future games on Steam.

This would be an attempt to recover some of the audience that was missed out on by excluding the Steam playerbase from the game’s initial release. However, with the reception of the game being what it is, there are still other factors that need to be considered. While releasing the game on Steam is a step in the right direction, it still might not be enough for the game to reach the sales that Ubisoft wants it to.

Ubisoft has also committed to releasing all future games, including the upcoming Assassin’s Creed Shadows, on Steam from day 1. Ubisoft has cited this change in strategy because of lessons learned from the release of Star Wars Outlaws. The company likely sees the missed opportunity of not releasing a game on Steam and wants to avoid a similar situation with releases in the future. However, much like with the reception of Star Wars Outlaws, people have become wary of Ubisoft’s pricing of their content.

While the company has stated that they are learning lessons from past releases, other statements tell a different story. Releasing future games on Steam will definitely help somewhat, but Ubisoft still faces many other obstacles in order to win back fans to their side. In a statement released in September 2024, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot stated:

“Although the tangible benefits of the Company’s transformation are taking longer than anticipated to materialize, we keep on our strategy, focusing on two key verticals – Open World Adventures and GaaS-native experiences – with the objective to drive growth, recurrence and robust free cash flow generation in our business.”

Fans have been critical of many of the decisions that Ubisoft has made in recent years. One particular criticism that is shared by many is the focus on open-world games, as well as games-as-a-service. Fans are tired of games feeling recycled and unoriginal, and Ubisoft is doing little to curb those doubts. Ubisoft might state that the company has learned lessons from the release of Star Wars Outlaws, however, it continues to pour heavy investment into a major reason why people are so frustrated with the company in the first place.

The statements feel contradictory to each other, claiming to learn lessons and implement new strategies while pursuing the same avenues from before. With Star Wars Outlaws releasing on Steam in November, and the recently delayed Assassin’s Creed Shadows taking some more time to be polished ahead of its February release date, Ubisoft and fans can only wait and see if it is enough to recoup the losses that the company has seen.

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Star Wars Outlaws

Star Wars Outlaws, a gritty open-world adventure by Massive Entertainment, blasts onto PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S in 2024. Forge your destiny between Empires Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, carving a path as a smuggler, bounty hunter, or tech-savvy slicer. Assemble your crew, master dynamic combat, and leave your mark on the galaxy – every choice shapes your legend in this lawless frontier.

Open-World

Action-Adventure

Systems

OpenCritic Reviews

Top Critic Rating:75/100 Critics Recommend:66%

Franchise

Star Wars

Platform(s)

PC , PlayStation 5 , Xbox Series X , Xbox Series S

Released

August 30, 2024

Developer(s)

Massive Entertainment

Publisher(s)

Ubisoft , Lucasfilm Games

Engine

Snowdrop

ESRB

T For Teen // Violence, Simulated Gambling, Mild Language

PS Plus Availability

N/A

OpenCritic Rating

Strong