Ubisoft attributed the underperformance of Star Wars Outlaws to declining interest in the Star Wars franchise, poor timing following a negatively received series, and the game’s technical flaws stemming from the developer’s inexperience with open-world games. In response, Ubisoft is delaying other major projects to focus on quality improvements and continuing to polish Star Wars Outlaws, though skepticism remains about their ability to consistently deliver polished releases.
The video covers Ubisoft’s 2025 General Shareholder Meeting, focusing on the company’s reflections about the underperformance of Star Wars Outlaws. Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot addressed the game’s failure to meet sales targets, attributing it partly to the declining interest in the Star Wars brand at the time of release. The game launched shortly after the poorly received Star Wars series “The Acolyte,” which negatively impacted the franchise’s reputation. Guillemot also acknowledged that the game had several polish and bug issues that affected player reception and sales.
Star Wars Outlaws was developed by Ubisoft Massive, a studio known primarily for online multiplayer shooters like The Division, not open-world adventure games. This lack of experience showed in the game’s design choices and technical execution. For example, the speeder bike mechanics were limited and unintuitive, and the AI was notably poor, detracting from the gameplay experience. These design flaws, combined with bugs and a rushed release schedule, contributed significantly to the game’s disappointing reception.
Despite its flaws, the game contained some innovative and enjoyable features, such as an in-game card game called Sabbac, betting on alien horse races, and a seamless transition from planetary surface to space combat. However, these positive aspects were overshadowed by the game’s rough state at launch. Ubisoft typically fixes issues post-launch, but this time players were less tolerant of “small frictions,” leading to a stronger backlash and lower sales.
The fallout from Star Wars Outlaws’ performance led Ubisoft to delay other major projects like Assassin’s Creed Shadows and the Black Flag remake to allow more development time and improve quality. This shift indicates Ubisoft’s recognition that players now demand more polished and complete experiences upfront, especially given the rising cost of games and the prevalence of in-game monetization. However, the video’s narrator expressed skepticism about Ubisoft’s ability to avoid repeating these mistakes in the long term, given past patterns with other rushed releases.
Finally, Ubisoft continues to work on improving Star Wars Outlaws, including plans for a version on upcoming consoles like the Switch 2. The company admits the game is still being polished, but the initial launch experience hurt its financial and critical success. Overall, the video paints a picture of a game hampered by timing, inexperience, and rushed development, but with underlying potential that could be realized with further refinement. The situation has prompted Ubisoft to rethink its approach to game releases and quality standards moving forward.