Ubisoft's Star Wars Outlaws Underperforms, Impacting Share Price
Ubisoft's highly anticipated Star Wars Outlaws, intended as a financial turnaround for the company, has reportedly underperformed in sales, causing a dip in Ubisoft's share price. This follows a first-quarter 2024-25 report where Ubisoft emphasized Outlaws and Assassin's Creed Shadows as key long-term growth drivers.
Despite positive critical reception, sales have been described as "sluggish." J.P. Morgan analyst Daniel Kerven lowered sales projections from 7.5 million units to 5.5 million units by March 2025, highlighting the game's struggle to meet expectations.
This sales shortfall contributed to a two-day decline in Ubisoft's share price, reaching its lowest point since 2015 and adding to a year-to-date drop exceeding 30%. The shares fell 5.1% on Monday, September 3rd, and a further 2.4% by Tuesday morning. This contrasts with the company's reported 15% increase in console and PC session days, primarily driven by Games-as-a-Service, and a 7% year-on-year increase in monthly active users (MAUs) to 38 million.
The discrepancy between critical acclaim and player reception is evident in the user score of 4.5/10 on Metacritic, contrasting with more positive professional reviews, such as Game8's 90/100 rating. The game's long-term success remains uncertain, casting a shadow over Ubisoft's hopes for financial recovery.
