Ubisoft's highly anticipated Star Wars Outlaws has reportedly underperformed in sales, impacting the company's share price. The game, intended as a financial turning point for Ubisoft, failed to meet expectations despite positive critical reception.
Ubisoft's Financial Hopes Hinged on Star Wars Outlaws and Assassin's Creed Shadows
Stock Price Slumps Following Outlaws' Release
Star Wars Outlaws, a key title in Ubisoft's strategy to improve its financial standing, has seen weaker-than-projected sales. This, coupled with less-than-stellar player reception, resulted in a significant drop in Ubisoft's share price on September 3rd. The company had positioned both Outlaws and the upcoming Assassin's Creed Shadows (AC Shadows) as crucial long-term investments.
Ubisoft's Q1 2024-25 report emphasized the importance of these two titles in reshaping the company's financial future. While the report noted 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, the underwhelming performance of Star Wars Outlaws casts a shadow on these positive figures.
Sales figures for Star Wars Outlaws have been characterized as sluggish. J.P. Morgan analyst Daniel Kerven, cited by Reuters, stated that the game "struggled to meet our sales expectations despite positive critical reviews," revising his sales projection from 7.5 million units to 5.5 million units by March 2025.
Following the August 30th release of Star Wars Outlaws, Ubisoft's share price experienced a two-day decline. A 5.1% drop on Monday, September 3rd, was followed by a further 2.4% decrease on Tuesday morning. This brought the stock to its lowest point since 2015, adding to a year-to-date decline exceeding 30%.
While critics generally praised Star Wars Outlaws, player reception appears less enthusiastic. The game currently holds a Metacritic user score of only 4.5 out of 10, contrasting sharply with more positive professional reviews, such as Game8's 90/100 rating. For a detailed perspective on Star Wars Outlaws, please refer to our review (link below).
