Star Wars Outlaws' Sales to Plummet, Analyst Predicts

Ubisoft's Star Wars Outlaws: Sales Underwhelm Despite Positive Reviews

Ubisoft's highly anticipated Star Wars Outlaws, intended as a financial turning point for the company, has reportedly underperformed in sales. This has resulted in a consecutive decline in Ubisoft's share price last week, following its August 30th release.

The game, along with the upcoming Assassin's Creed Shadows, was presented as a key element in Ubisoft's long-term growth strategy, detailed in their Q1 2024-25 sales report. Despite a 15% increase in console and PC session days, largely due to Games-as-a-Service titles, and a 7% year-on-year rise in monthly active users (MAUs) to 38 million, Star Wars Outlaws' sales have been deemed "sluggish."

J.P. Morgan analyst Daniel Kerven lowered his sales projection for Star Wars Outlaws from 7.5 million units to 5.5 million units by March 2025, citing the game's failure to meet expectations despite positive critical reception.

This underperformance contributed to a significant drop in Ubisoft's share price. On September 3rd, shares fell 5.1% on Monday and a further 2.4% by Tuesday morning, reaching their lowest point since 2015 and adding to a year-to-date decline exceeding 30%.

While critics generally praised the game, player reception has been less enthusiastic, reflected in a Metacritic user score of just 4.5 out of 10. Conversely, Game8 awarded Star Wars Outlaws a 90/100 rating, hailing it as an exceptional addition to the Star Wars universe. [Link to Game8 review (Insert link here)] The disparity between critical acclaim and player sales highlights a potential disconnect between expectations and actual market performance.