Ubisoft's hopes for a financial turnaround with the launch of Star Wars Outlaws have been dampened by reportedly sluggish sales. This underperformance contributed to a drop in the company's share price last week.

Ubisoft's Financial Outlook Hinges on Star Wars Outlaws and Assassin's Creed Shadows

Stock Price Slumps Continue

Star Wars Outlaws, a key title for Ubisoft's financial recovery plan, has failed to meet sales expectations despite positive critical reception. This led to consecutive declines in Ubisoft's share price beginning September 3rd.

Ubisoft had positioned both Star Wars Outlaws and the upcoming Assassin's Creed Shadows (AC Shadows) as crucial long-term investments in their Q1 2024-25 sales report. The company aimed for these titles to significantly improve its financial standing.

Ubisoft's Q1 report emphasized the importance of successfully launching these new releases, calling them "long-lasting value drivers." While the company reported 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 Star Wars Outlaws sales figures cast a shadow on this positive news.

Reports describe Star Wars Outlaws sales as "sluggish." J.P. Morgan analyst Daniel Kerven, as cited by Reuters, noted that the game "struggled to meet our sales expectations despite positive critical reviews," revising his sales projections downward from 7.5 million units to 5.5 million units by March 2025.

Following the game's August 30th release, Ubisoft's share price fell 5.1% on Monday, September 3rd, and a further 2.4% by Tuesday morning. This drop marked the company's lowest share price since 2015, adding to a year-to-date decline of over 30%.

While critics generally praised Star Wars Outlaws, player reception appears less enthusiastic, reflected in a Metacritic user score of only 4.5 out of 10. In contrast, Game8 awarded the game a 90/100 rating, calling it "an exceptional game that does justice to the Star Wars franchise." For a more detailed perspective, read our review (link below).