Ubisoft's Star Wars Outlaws Underperforms, Impacting Share Price
Ubisoft's highly anticipated Star Wars Outlaws, intended as a financial turning point for the company, has reportedly underperformed in sales, causing a dip in Ubisoft's share price. This follows a similar trend seen last week.
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. This news contributed to a significant drop in Ubisoft's share price.
Ubisoft had pinned hopes on both Star Wars Outlaws and the upcoming Assassin's Creed Shadows to bolster its financial position, labeling them as key "value drivers" in their Q1 2024-25 sales report. While the report noted a 15% increase in console and PC session days, largely due to Games-as-a-Service, and a 7% year-on-year increase in monthly active users (MAUs) to 38 million, the underperformance of Star Wars Outlaws remains a concern.
Ubisoft's shares experienced consecutive declines on September 3rd and 4th, falling 5.1% and 2.4% respectively. This marked the lowest share price since 2015, adding to a year-to-date drop exceeding 30%.
The disparity between critical acclaim and user reception is notable. While Star Wars Outlaws boasts a Metacritic user score of only 4.5 out of 10, Game8 awarded it a 90/100 rating, praising it as an exceptional Star Wars title. For a more detailed analysis, see our full review (link omitted). The game's future performance and its impact on Ubisoft's overall financial strategy remain to be seen.
