Published , by Ozzie Mejia
Published , by Ozzie Mejia
Star Wars Outlaws was set to be one of Ubisoft's biggest titles of the year. It would mark the publisher's first foray into the massive Star Wars universe, taking the beloved property into a new open-world adventure and introducing players to all-new characters. Things haven't gone quite the way Ubisoft hoped, unfortunately, in terms of sales. In an effort to help jumpstart things for the holidays, Ubisoft announced on Wednesday that Star Wars Outlaws would hit Steam in November.
"Despite solid ratings (Metacritic 76) and user scores across the First Party and Epic stores (3.9/5) that reflect an immersive and authentic Star Wars universe, Star Wars Outlaws initial sales proved softer than expected," reads Ubisoft's updated financial target statement. "In response to player feedback, Ubisoft's development teams are currently fully mobilized to swiftly implement a series of updates to polish and improve the player experience in order to engage a large audience during the holiday season to position Star Wars Outlaws as a strong long-term performer. The game will be available on Steam on November 21."
While this is an expression of disappointment for Star Wars Outlaws' initial sales, it doesn't look like Ubisoft is giving up on the game. In fact, the game is still in line to follow its post-launch roadmap, which includes two significant story expansions coming from developer Massive Entertainment. This also appears to be indicative of a larger push toward bringing Ubisoft titles back to Steam with the freshly-delayed Assassin's Creed Shadows officially marking Ubisoft's return to releasing titles on Valve's storefront at launch. The past few years have seen Ubisoft release games through its own storefront and through the Epic Games Store.
As noted by the publisher statement, the Star Wars Outlaws sales aren't necessarily indicative of the game's quality. Among the outlets giving it high scores is Shacknews, which cites the game's narrative potential while docking its shortcomings in the stealth department. Be sure to check out our full review.
Star Wars Outlaws is available now on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. For PC users who don't want to wait for it to come to Steam, it's available on the Ubisoft Store and the Epic Games Store.