Ubisoft’s recent shareholder meeting shed some light on why Star Wars Outlaws didn’t quite hit the mark. Yves Guillemot, the CEO, pointed to a mix of the Star Wars brand being in a “bit of choppy waters” plus some technical hiccups early on that hurt the game’s sales.
Fans might find this surprising, especially since Star Wars Battlefront II has actually surged in popularity years after its release. So what went wrong with Outlaws? Guillemot didn’t sugarcoat it.
During the meeting, Yves Guillemot was asked about the game’s performance, which apparently fell well short of Ubisoft’s expectations. While exact sales targets weren’t detailed, it’s clear the numbers weren’t close.
“For Star Wars Outlaws, we didn’t reach our sales targets. The game suffered from a number of items. First, it suffered from the fact that it was released at a time when the brand, the brand that it belonged to was in a bit of choppy waters. And the game had a few items that still needed to be polished, and they were polished and debugged in the early weeks, but it did affect sales volumes.”
“We did heavily improve the game by troubleshooting and debugging, and when it will be released on upcoming consoles, such as the Switch 2, it will be the new version of the game.”
Released in August 2024, Star Wars Outlaws didn’t quite catch the wave many expected, given the franchise’s massive fanbase. Guillemot’s comments about the Star Wars brand being “in a bit of choppy waters” might not sit well with some, especially considering the sustained interest in the series through its expanding universe.
Was it really the brand’s state, or did the game fail to meet fan expectations in other ways? The early bugs certainly didn’t help. I can’t help but ask, how much did those initial rough patches impact player trust?
Now, Charlie Guillemot is making a comeback, so we’ll have to see how Ubisoft comes out in the end.
