A screenshot of Star Wars Outlaws (2024), Ubisoft
Ubisoft admitted that sales of Star Wars Outlaws are “softer than expected.”
In a document providing new financial targets for FY2024-25, Ubisoft drastically cut its net bookings projections for FY2024-25 from €500 million to €350-370m million. The company explained the main reason for their net bookings being cut by up to 30% is “a reflection of decisions taken for Assassin’s Creed Shadows and the softer than expected launch for Star Wars Outlaws.
The company announced that it was delaying Assassin’s Creed Shadows to February 2025.
Ubisoft then reiterated that sales for Star Wars Outlaws were not good. The company shared, “Despite solid ratings (Metacritic 76) and user scores across the First Party and Epic stores (3.9/5) that reflect an immersive and authentic Star Wars universe, Star Wars Outlaws initial sales proved softer than expected.”
The company’s main goal to fix this is to seemingly debug the game before Christmas, “In response to player feedback, Ubisoft’s development teams are currently fully mobilized to swiftly implement a series of updates to polish and improve the player experience in order to engage a large audience during the holiday season to position Star Wars Outlaws as a strong long-term performer.”
The company also plans to release the game to Steam on November 21st.
Ubisoft’s CEO Yves Guillemot also commented, “Our second quarter performance fell short of our expectations, prompting us to address this swiftly and firmly, with an even greater focus on a player-centric, gameplay-first approach and an unwavering commitment to the long-term value of our brands.”
He also announced the company plans to launch a review, “Beyond the first important short-term actions undertaken, the Executive Committee, under the supervision of the Board of Directors, is launching a review aimed at further improving our execution, notably in this player-centric approach, and accelerating our strategic path towards a higher performing model to the benefit of our stakeholders and shareholders.”
Guillemot concluded by claiming the company does not have an agenda to push despite its commitment to Diversity, Inclusion, and Accessibility on its website as well as its apparent illegal mentorship program which discriminates against men among other policies and actions the company has taken.
He said, “Finally, let me address some of the polarized comments around Ubisoft lately. I want to reaffirm that we are an entertainment-first company, creating games for the broadest possible audience, and our goal is not to push any specific agenda. We remain committed to creating games for fans and players that everyone can enjoy.”
This confirmation that Star Wars Outlaws sales are soft is no surprise. The game nearly fell out of True Trophies’ Top 40 Most Popular PlayStation Games list less than a month after release. In the most recent ranking, released on Monday, September 23rd, the game placed in the 39th position.
This came after a report from Christopher Dring indicated that UK Sales for the game were 55% lower than Star Wars Jedi: Survivor. Dring noted that “launch sales [were] 55% lower than what Star Wars Jedi: Survivor did.”
A week later he revealed the game did half the sales of Assassin’s Creed Mirage.
He wrote, “Star Wars Outlaws UK figures were lower than I expected (digital and physical data via GSD). But did a fair bit more than Avatar (52% more). About half of Assassin’s Creed Mirage. Plenty of opportunity to drive more units on this one as we head into Q4.”
On top of all this, financial analysts downgraded the company’s stock citing poor sales.
Bloomberg reported that Cantor Fitzgerald downgraded the company’s stock citing Star Wars Outlaws’ reviews and predicting the game will “underperform expectations.”
What do you make of Ubisoft confirming Star Wars Outlaws sales were “softer than expected?”