Star Wars Outlaws Underperforms, Outsold by Jedi: Survivor
Ubisoft's Star Wars Outlaws, the franchise's first open-world title, is facing significant challenges. Released in August 2024, the game, despite initially positive reviews, has underwhelmed in sales, falling short of Ubisoft's expectations and contributing to a sharp drop in the company's stock price. Adding to the woes, reports indicate that Star Wars Outlaws is being outsold by 2023's Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.
Player reception has been mixed, with criticism primarily focused on the game's combat and stealth mechanics. While Ubisoft has addressed these issues through updates, the impact on sales has been minimal. In Europe, Star Wars Outlaws recently ranked only 47th in 2024's best-selling video games.
Several factors likely contribute to Jedi: Survivor's superior performance. As a sequel to the successful Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, it benefited from established brand recognition and critical acclaim upon its April 2023 release. Furthermore, a later update expanding its platform availability boosted its sales further.
In contrast, Outlaws has struggled to gain traction, despite ongoing post-launch support from Massive Entertainment. This includes the November release of the "Wild Card" DLC featuring Lando Calrissian, and a planned Spring 2025 DLC, "A Pirate's Fortune," introducing Hondo Ohnaka. However, these efforts haven't been enough to reverse the game's underperformance. The disparity in sales highlights the challenges of establishing a new open-world Star Wars experience compared to the success of a well-received sequel within an existing, popular framework.
