In our test, we liked Star Wars: Outlaws quite a lot – despite its weaknesses – and other press reviews are also positive. Nevertheless, the game now seems to be one of the reasons why Ubisoft is currently on the brink of collapse. The French publisher and game developer is doing worse than it has for years!
When will Star Wars Outlaws be released?
Ubisoft's latest game, Star Wars: Outlaws (buy now 69,99 € / 62,99 € )is by 30 August 2024 for PC, PS5 and Xbox Series. Although the game has a relatively good Metacritic rating of 76% and received quite a bit of praise in our test, it doesn't seem to be going down well with fans at the moment.
The game's user score, also determined on Metacritic, is significantly lower than the rating given by the specialist press. With only 5.4 out of 10 points, Star Wars: Outlaws could almost be described as a flop. It was precisely because of the harsh criticism beforehand that colleague Michi has already written a column demanding that the hate must stop.
Due to the poor user ratings and the disappointing sales figures for Star Wars: Outlaws, Ubisoft is now on the brink of collapse: the French game publisher is currently doing worse than ever. But can the current Star Wars game be blamed for this alone?
Ubisoft shares fall to ten-year low
Ubisoft's stock fell to a ten-year low shortly after the release of Star Wars: Outlaws and has not recovered since. With only 14,66 € (As of September 6, 2024), the share price has fallen by more than 10% since the end of August. The ten-year history also shows that Ubisoft has never been in such a bad position.
This becomes even clearer when you look at the market capitalization, i.e. the total value of Ubisoft: It is now under two billion US dollars. By comparison, the competition from Electronic Arts is worth over 30 billion US dollars. In addition to the numerous criticisms of Star Wars: Outlaws, including many bugs, technical problems and destroyed save games, there are other reasons for Ubisoft's poor situation.
The American bank JP Morgan has reduced its sales forecast for the new Star Wars game by two million units sold to “only” 5.5 million. At the same time, of course, Disney is also demanding a lot of money for the Star Wars license. Ubisoft also has other problems.
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This is how bad things are for Ubisoft
The French publisher and game developer is also struggling on other fronts: the alleged “Call of Duty” killer XDefiant is also turning out to be a non-starter. According to the latest reports, Ubisoft is not giving the free-to-play shooter much time to prove itself. The last Assassin's Creed, nicknamed “Mirage”, is also said to have fallen short of expectations.
At the same time, investors and we gamers should look to the autumn with confidence: On November 12, 2024, Ubisoft's hope, Assassin's Creed: Shadows, will be released. Also looking forward to next year is a new Far Cry and that long-awaited Splinter Cell remake Nevertheless, Ubisoft is doing really badly at the moment. If the upcoming games are not a success, the French publisher could be in serious danger!