Ubisoft’s Star Wars Outlaws significantly underperformed in European markets in 2024, ranking as the 47th best-selling game across the whole continent. Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, which was released in 2023, outsold Ubisoft’s open-world adventure game despite releasing a year and a half prior.
These figures were revealed by the Video Games Chronicle, which highlighted Ubisoft’s struggling commercial year after a series of disappointments in 2024. Before Star Wars Outlaws, Ubisoft faced shortcomings with live-service titles XDefiant and Skull and Bones, with the prior set to shut down in June 2025, and the latter having a colossal budget which led to descriptions as one of the first “AAAA” experiences. Star Wars Outlaws cemented a poor financial year for Ubisoft, and the association with the global sci-fi phenomenon brand hasn’t assisted sales.
Star Wars Outlaws Fails To Capture The Sci-fi Audience
Technical Issues At Launch Puts Off Players
Star Wars video game adaptations have typically received critical and commercial success, with Respawn’s Star Wars Jedi series being a recent example of this. However, Outlaws failed to capture a similar response from fans and critics, with game-breaking bugs, clunky controls, and other technical issues leading to a middling Metacritic user score of 5.3. Despite Ubisoft’s repeated fixes, patches, and DLC updates, the title didn’t win audiences back over after its poor launch.
While it’s important to note that Star Wars Outlaws was released in August 2024, leaving only a few months of sales, other titles released around a similar period received excellent sales numbers, like Astro Bot in September. The shorter sales window compared to the charts’ competitors doesn’t fully excuse Star Wars Outlaws and Jedi: Survivor‘s comparative strong sales momentum in 2024 seems to reflect players’ lack of trust after Ubisoft’s buggy launch.
Our Take: Ubisoft May Have A Tough 2025 And Will Rely On AC Shadows
Delays To AC Shadows Reflects Tension And Concern From Ubisoft
Ubisoft’s challenges extend beyond the dismal sales of Star Wars Outlaws, as the company’s underwhelming 2024 has led to strategic reassessments. Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot noted in a conference, courtesy of Gamespot, that the company has hired advisors to overlook “strategic and capitalistic options” in order to “reshape Ubisoft.“ The struggles of XDefiant, Skull and Bones, and Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown have all led to this pressure, with the upcoming release of Assassin’s Creed Shadows acting as the last bastion of hope for Ubisoft.
Frequent delays to AC Shadows highlight Ubisoft’s concerns, as the game has been postponed three times. The current launch date will be March 20, as Reuters reported that Ubisoft wished to “allow the team to better incorporate the player feedback gathered over the past three months.” The performance of Assassin’s Creed Shadows will be pivotal to the trajectory of Ubisoft in 2025, as success could signal a turnaround, whereas further underperformances may exacerbate this tumultuous period.
