From having the largest marketing budget to potentially the biggest blunder for Ubisoft, analysts have reduced the sales targets for their latest AAA release, Star Wars Outlaws, by three million units.
Ubisoft has faced significant criticism lately, all of it well-deserved. From suggesting that consumers should “get used to the idea” that they don’t own their games, to actually removing access to the games of paying customers, the company frequently sparks outrage.
The backlash against Ubisoft only continued with Assassin’s Creed Shadows, a blatantly racist video game that boldly attempts to rewrite Japanese history by fictionalizing an insignificant figure as a makeshift samurai.
Their latest release, Star Wars Outlaws, has also drawn immense criticism from consumers, largely due to the fallout from Assassin’s Creed but also because the game itself appeared dull and uninspired.
Even if we set aside Ubisoft’s claim that they allocated more budget to Star Wars Outlaws than any of their previous games thanks to the highly lucrative franchise it’s based on, it appears that their marketing efforts might lead to a potential loss.
Originally, Ubisoft aimed for $718 million in bookings for the second quarter, but that estimate has now been reduced to $553 million.
Analysts at the Financial Times suggest that Ubisoft is in dire need of Star Wars Outlaws to be a major success, due to recent failures such as the “AAAA” release of Skull and Bones, which was quietly launched on the Steam storefront to a reception of complete silence.
The lack of excitement for Star Wars Outlaws paints a bleak outlook for the French company, which has recently laid off 45 employees from its U.S. studios and have laid off nearly 2000 employees over the past two years.
Analysts have reduced their sales projections for Star Wars Outlaws, now expecting only 5 million copies to be sold this quarter, down from the previous estimate of 8 million.
Ubisoft has spared no effort in marketing the game on social platforms like Twitch, even treating content creators to trips to Disneyland in exchange for positive coverage. Star Wars Outlaws was seemingly released on August 27th, exclusively on Ubisoft’s own PC storefront and the Epic Game Store, both of which are unpopular with many PC gamers.
As a result, its PC sales have been negatively impacted from the start, given that it isn’t available on Steam.
Most of Ubisoft’s promotion for the game leading up to its release focused on showcasing cinematics and cutscenes, rather than highlighting the game’s “marvelous” stealth gameplay, which has been widely mocked by consumers.
It’s clear that Ubisoft was grasping at straws, especially considering the publications they chose to praise in an attempt to “hype” up the game.
For instance, they featured a quote from a Dexerto “journalist” who claimed that this open-world stealth extravaganza, starring a hideously ugly Mary Sue character that knocks out stormtroopers bare fisted, was the Star Wars game they had always wanted.
Ubisoft’s shares have been in a downward spiral in recent months, serving as a prime example of what happens to a gaming company that embraces the words and ideology of BlackRock CEO Larry Fink by focusing heavily on ESG and DEI initiatives throughout the game development process.
This approach has led to the cultural appropriation within Assassin’s Creed Shadows, which is poised to take place during Feudal Japan, a setting fans have long desired for the series’ first foray into Asia, but which features the historically inaccurate character of Yasuke, a Black man artificially pushed as a samurai.
Additionally, Star Wars Outlaws has been heavily criticized for altering the appearance of a traditionally attractive character to emphasize diversity and inclusivity.
Ubisoft avoided discussing pre-order sales figures for Assassin’s Creed Shadows during their recent Q1 FY25 earnings call, where they forecasted around €500 million euros in sales for the second quarter, which encompasses the release of Star Wars Outlaws.
However, there has been little fanfare surrounding the game, and even today’s often-sympathetic gaming journalists are struggling to present it favorably, with numerous “professional” outlets giving it a score of 7.
A score of 7 might seem impressive, especially these days, but as we’ve seen, consumer reception often differs greatly from that of journalists.
Players have been appalled by the game’s broken and buggy state, where those unfortunate enough to give Ubisoft more money in return for early access were more or less forced into deleting their save files upon the games actual release due to a game-breaking “bug.”
As highlighted in the gameplay preview by IGN over a month ago, much of the criticism focuses on the bland and uninspired open-world gameplay, poor stealth mechanics, and subpar optimization on the PC platform.
These issues have contributed to the game receiving a dismal 4.8 average rating on Metacritic from 648 reviews.
While the negative reception is also likely influenced by Ubisoft’s recent anti-Japanese racial controversy, Star Wars Outlaws has, overall, proven to be a disappointing and underwhelming release.
For a company that reported net losses of €500 million in 2023, this news is particularly troubling. Limiting Star Wars Outlaws to less popular platforms like Ubisoft’s own storefront and the Epic Game Store doesn’t help.
The success of Star Wars Outlaws is crucial for Ubisoft, but criticism, negative reviews and the lack of discussion of the game in general shouts that it’s a major flop, similar to Skull and Bones.
Ubisoft is pinning its hopes on Assassin’s Creed Shadows to make up for any potential shortfall in sales. However, with over 100,000 people petitioning to have the game banned in Japan due to the controversy surrounding its Black protagonist, Yasuke, it’s likely that Assassin’s Creed Shadows will also face sales challenges.
Modern game development is unsustainably expensive, with many AAA titles costing over $100 million USD to produce, not including hefty marketing expenses. While it’s too early to determine Star Wars Outlaws’ final sales performance, its lukewarm reception raises concerns that Ubisoft might struggle to meet the analysts five million sales target.
Only time will tell if Ubisoft can meet or exceed expectations by October. If both Star Wars Outlaws and Assassin’s Creed Shadows turn out to be financial failures, Ubisoft might be heading towards a downward spiral, with the blame squarely on their own shoulders for clinging to a failed ideology (and Larry Fink).
