Star Wars Outlaws Faces Drop in Sales, Analyst Reports

Ubisoft's Star Wars Outlaws Underperforms, Impacting Share Price

Ubisoft's highly anticipated Star Wars Outlaws, intended as a financial turning point for the company, has reportedly underperformed in sales, causing a significant dip in Ubisoft's share price. This follows a similar trend from last week.

Falling Short of Expectations

Ubisoft had positioned Star Wars Outlaws, alongside the upcoming Assassin's Creed Shadows (AC Shadows), as key drivers of future growth. Their Q1 2024-25 sales report emphasized these titles' importance in reshaping the company's financial outlook. While the company reported a 15% increase in console and PC session days, largely due to Games-as-a-Service, and a 7% year-on-year rise in monthly active users (MAUs) to 38 million, Star Wars Outlaws' sales have been described as sluggish.

J.P. Morgan analyst Daniel Kerven lowered his sales projection for Star Wars Outlaws from 7.5 million units to 5.5 million units by March 2025, citing underperformance despite positive critical reception.

Share Price Decline

Following the game's August 30th release, Ubisoft's share price fell for two consecutive days, dropping 5.1% on Monday and a further 2.4% by Tuesday morning. This marked the lowest share price since 2015, adding to a greater than 30% drop since the beginning of the year.

Mixed Player Reception

While critics generally praised Star Wars Outlaws, player reception has been more mixed, reflected in a Metacritic user score of 4.5/10. However, other outlets, such as Game8, awarded a much higher score (90/100), praising the game's quality and faithfulness to the Star Wars franchise. For a comprehensive perspective, check out our review [link to review]. The discrepancy between critical and user reviews highlights a potential disconnect between expectations and the actual player experience.