Star Wars Outlaws Has Sold Just 1 Million Copies In The Month Since It Launched

Star Wars Outlaws has sold just one million units since being released at the tail end of August 2024. Check out the full story here.

[jznrpg]

That’s not too bad considering their games generally get a large discount after a a couple months or so.
I’m sure it didn’t meet their expectations being a Star Wars game

[Vits]

Yeah, if this was a new IP, it would actually be a pretty good result. But for a SW game this is just sad.

Though, to be fair I have no idea how well regarded that IP even is at this point.

[_SilverHawk_]

The game is amazing and I hope it sells a lot more even with the success it's had already

[OtterX]

Yea, the Star Wars license alone is priiiiicey. Even at 1million sold, I'm sure this lost money. They assumed it would sell like hotcakes just bc it's Star Wars, but gamers are growing keen of the Ubisoft staleness.

To be fair, I've had a few friends say they're enjoying it, "it's not bad" but in no was is it a $70 game. For $70, I expect "great", not "It's not bad". I wait for $20-30 or under for "It's not bad."

[Profchaos]

Expectations were originally 7 million and in earnings call prior to launch downgraded to 5.5 million in launch month.

So it's drastically undershot the mark.

Also based on the leaked data from insomniac we know that Disney likes to set minimum sales numbers that a product must hit or the lincensee (Ubisoft in this case) must pay a fine and I believe it was like 2 million units I could be off there in Spider-Mans case so I expect similar for star wars.

So not only have Ubisoft lost money on this they continue to lose money by being subjected to penalties from the license holder

[TheCaptainKuchiki]

It's actually very bad for a AAA game from a popular franchise.

[IAMRealHooman]

even worse for AAAA

[XiNatsuDragnel]

Good sales still

[Notellin]

No that's not all good sales numbers for a heavily marketed Star Wars game.

[VenomUK]

Just 1million? Considering this is a triple-A game from one of the world’s leading publishers using the Star Wars IP and it’s been heavily advertised, the sales are a big disappointment. It demonstrates that, for whatever reason, the public have avoided this.

Personally, I blame using a protagonist that the target market couldn’t relate to and a focus on social messaging.

[Christopher]

1. Not good sales if that's true. For most SP AAA games, 70% of your total sales are in the first month.
2. I doubt this is accurate. It might only track physical sales or the like. Even with this quality of a game, it likely sold way better just because of the IP, but it's likely mostly digital.
3. Never make a numbered list with only 2 items on it.

[Einhander1972]

I liked it.

[ZeekQuattro]

I enjoyed the game and look forward to the story expansions. I can see why those sales would be disappointing though. For a AAA multiplat game with the Star Wars branding attached to it that number isn't good.

[Sciurus_vulgaris]

I find it odd that development costs of games aren’t publicly released like movies. You can predict the break even point of films by multiplying their budget by 2.5. Outlaws probably has a budget of over 100 million, 1 million units isn’t enough for it yo break even.

[thorstein]

Movie development costs aren't publicly released.

"In Hollywood no one has the receipts."

There is literally a nickname for how money is used to make movies: Hollywood Accounting.

"You can predict the break even point of films by multiplying their budget by 2.5."

Where did you get that? From the internet?

This game didn't cost 100 million to make. Where did you get that?

Godzilla Minus One cost less than 15 million and the only reason anyone knows that is because the director said he had less than 15 million to make it.

If you believe Hollywood, Men In Black and Return of the Jedi "never turned a profit."

[Notellin]

"This game didn't cost 100 million to make. Where did you get that?"

You're correct because it cost more than 100 million to make including the largest marketing budget Ubisoft has ever spent on a game.

Embarrassing for Ubisoft.

[Christopher]

*** You're correct because it cost more than 100 million to make including the largest marketing budget Ubisoft has ever spent on a game. ***

Cost to make != marketing, just FYI. Literally why it says "to make" not "to sell".

The cost to develop is probably the lowest figure here alongside marketing and licensing. And the only reason the game is a market failure is because of those last two require over 6m sales to make a profit. It's likely they're barely reaching the total costs associated with the game with current sales. I'm not sure they can do too much to get much of any profit margin on this game in the long run. The real question is if they will abandon the IP because of this or readjust for a better sequel with less costs in certain areas.

[babadivad]

They aren't in Hollywood. Just "projected budget" which can be any imaginary number the studio wants.

The only time you get to see what a movie or TV show actually cost is when they apply for tax credits for filming in a certain location.

Like the Disney movies filmed in the UK. The budgets come out to the public once they file taxes for their tax credits.

Most of the budgets that Disney discloses to the media are WAY below what the project actually cost.

Judging from the public tax records, Solo isn't the only Star Wars movie that lost money, Rise of Skywalker failed to break even as well.

Crazy to think a main line Star Wars film lost money but here we are.

Makes sense why they put a halt on all Star Wars films.

[VersusDMC]

FFXVI sold 3 mil on the first weekend...i don't know why people are saying these are good numbers. 600 developers and a disney license does not make a small budget.

[ZacultronTheFirst]

This sounds like a major flop on their end. I bet they must be expecting huge sales given the IP and how they advertised despite a buggy launch.
And i believe this is Exactly why AC shadows was delayed to polish that as much as possible to get some positive reviews and also that they can't afford any more backlashes given the situation of the company as a whole.
Even Skull&Bones has fallen completely out of the radar.
Things are not looking good at all for Ubisoft.
I just hope that we get some good remakes for Splinter cell and Prince of Persia.

[Michiel1989]

I hope that we finally get some games that don't follow the ubisoft formula 95% or more, thats basically the reason why I never buy any of their games. I'm interested in some of the ips, but not with that type of gameplay loop.

[babadivad]

These numbers are a disaster.

[RhinoGamer88]

Black Friday can't come soon enough...

[Gamingsince1981]

It won't make much of a blip in the sales for this game, most people won't buy it at $10, the AI is a complete joke, you can sit in a bush and kill people right in front of everyone else over and over and they still don't know you are there lol

[Hotpot]

Nice sale for an indie game

[DarXyde]

It scares me when you think about how much the conversation around sales performance has changed.

On the PlayStation family of devices alone, games needed to sell 150K to about half a million (up to around PS3, I think) within a year to be considered Greatest Hits.

Now, we have a game on three platforms and we're saying it 'only' sold a million copies in a month.

I'm not making any strong statements on my own perceptions regarding sales performance, but it really does show how much the conversation has changed.

[pwnmaster3000]

Bro I remember that.

I feel like not so long ago, 1 mill was considered successful.
But now it seems like you need to be 4+ mil to be a success.

[thorstein]

Basically sales numbers matter (like box office for movies) depending on people's opinions.

So, let's say someone is angry and they hate a game or movie. No amount of sales will convince them that the game or movie is doing well. It's a flop to them. It bombed.

If it's a game or movie they love, it's a resounding success no matter what the sales numbers are.

And like with movies, no one knows the budgets of video games so they can arbitrarily make up numbers to bolster their claim. (ie Concord cost 400 milling and took 8 years to make. Even though the studio was only 6 years old and ProbablyMonsters didn't report having over 250 million in capital for all of their studios.)

Remember, facts don't matter if they don't match a narrative that the person desperately clings to.

[babadivad]

Sales matter depending on the budget. Nothing more, nothing less.

Little Mermaid remake lost money because of its obscene budget.

Snow White is going to lose money because of its budget.

Success is weighted against profit. If it doesn't turn a profit for the company, it wasn't a success.

1 million sold for this game is a disaster, while a million sales on something like Stellar Blade would be seen as a success.

It's as simple as that.

[M_Prime]

I'm in Canada and the base game is like $95 on Amazon, the deluxe is like $149. I'm waiting for that famed UBISOFT discount. The Avatar game (Also UBISOFT) got dropped to $39 around Black Friday on Amazon for the disc so i expect this to be the case as well here. I dont have FOMO and i want to play this, so i'll wait for a decent price. I picked up AC Mirage a few weeks back for $29 CDN for the disc at BESTBUY. So patience is always rewarded with Ubisoft games, and people know that.

[TheColbertinator]

Disney should take away Star Wars from Ubisoft and EA. They are all absolutely positively (including Disney itself) clueless on how to make a proper game for one of the most important franchises in history.

[Gamingsince1981]

Disney should take themselves away too, they haven't don't anything right in a long time

[raWfodog]

I enjoyed Jedi Fallen Order and Survivor though, and look forward to the next chapter in that series. I'll try Outlaws once the 'complete' edition releases (if they move forward with the DLC) and it's on sale .

[Daeloki]

I think it got a bit of an unfair and loud treatment by the toxic side of the fandom. Don't get me wrong, there was a lot of valid and needed criticism on technical aspects and the pricing model, and I fully agree on those. However, there is a completely ridiculous hate campaign on anything modern Star Wars, run by a few Star Wars "experts" on youtube and reddit. This is happening in most fandoms, but it's especially visible in Star Wars communities. These grifters are exremely vocal, and have a weirdly large audience, mainly because of clickbaity titles and thumbnails. And rather than giving any new media a chance they usually begin their hate campaigns the moment something is new announced that doesn't primarily feature a straight white male (I'll get downvoted to hell for this, but I'm not wrong and you know it, just look at the just revealed Ghost of Yotei). We're living in a time when hating new content gets views/clicks, the louder and more obnoxious you are, the more attention you get. And these loud grifters are getting convincing enough that a large part of their audience believes them blindly, and jump on the bandwagon and start regurgitating.

This ended up a bit more ranty than I had intended, but my point is, Outlaws was/is buggy and suffers from Ubisoft's insane pricing policy, on that I agree, and because of those reasons I will wait for a sale. But despite what the loud insecure neckbeards keep spouting, it did not fail because of a female lead and her appearence or for being woke.

[Gamingsince1981]

Why did it fail ?

[Daeloki]

In my opinion, and from what I've seen, it failed (failed being a bit of a strong word perhaps) mostly because of Ubisoft rushing to get it out. Like with so many Ubisoft games in the past, it released full of bugs and glitches. But I also think their pricing was a big problem. I get that the 70€ is starting to be more or lase the baseline these days, but 110€ for the full experience (Season pass) is absolutely ridiculous. Not to mention 130€ if you want some cosmetics on top of it. Ooor you can get into their susbscription program.

Ubisofts pricing model, and habit of rushing games out at subpar quality is where I believe the problem is.

[Gamingsince1981]

Hmmm so all the things all ubi games have done in recent years , starting from at least assassin's creed origins caused this star wars game to fail but assassin's creed valhalla sold really well, there has to be more to it than stupid prices and bugs , because all ubisoft games have had that in the last 10 years.

[Daeloki]

True, but I think AC might have already built the kind of fanbase that will buy every entry they spit out, kinda like people who play fifa or CoD.

The average AC fan however, is not necessarily go for a Star Wars game though, and on the flipside Star Wars fans that aren't into AC might have the outsiders perspective of what Ubisoft quality is and are more careful. Obviously there is some overlap between the fanbases, but it's hard to say, not sure there's any data on that.

But also, considering the globally unstable financial situation, where consumers have less and less to spend with, I think people are more careful with their purchases, and maybe more critical of what they get with their money. I know for a fact I had a lot more wiggle-room in my spending back when Valhalla came out than I do today

[Michiel1989]

being critical of something does NOT mean toxicity. So the people with the largest audiences can't voice their opinions anymore? If people hate something I don't like, I don't get offended and if I don't like something that others do i will still be critical of it and trash it if it's bad, although I do not need the game to be changes so that it's exactly for me. If people can't handle others being critical of a show or game they like, then they should just remove themselves from any form of interactions with people, because they will be offended one way or another.

So since Kathleen Kenedy has taken over everyone of their franchies has gone in decline. She's one of the highest ranking people there but we cant say that she's bad at her job because why? saying that she's bad at her job doesnt equal saying she is a bad person, but she sure does suck at her job. Imagine a world where you could never hold someone accountable for their mistakes or be critical of anything because you might offend someone.

Also it's incredibly fucking stupid to hold someone accountable for what their audience does, unbelievably braindead thought. You probably also think GTA incites violence because some of their audience have commited murders, lets blame the rockstar devs for what they had absolutely no control over.

[Daeloki]

Being critical does not meant toxicity, you are right, but there is valid criticism and then there is the toxicity I refer to.
The toxicity I'm talking about is people like Star Wars Theory who only seems to be making shock-value videos where he goes on rants because Star Wars today isn't the same as his precious nostalgia tinted vision, so he starts hate campaigns.
Toxicity is when people are claiming that characters like Kay are "uglified".
Toxicity is when people are going in on their conspiracy theories about "the woke agenda".

So yes, of course criticism is valid, and of course it's fine not to like something. But there is just so much raving going on from neckbeards who obviously have never met a real woman, since they call characters like Kay, Aloy, Ellie & Abby "ugglified".
And the "woke agenda"... Why is it that whenever any media opens up to a more diverse audience, some of you all lose it? Nobody is erasing your precious white straight men, there's just more of everyone else mixed in, much like in the real world.

[Michiel1989]

whenever any media opens up to a more diverse audience, you mean like rings of power? Forced diversity and ruining the show/story in the process? ofc I will start to shit on them, no one asked for diversity in lord of the rings except the people who didn't like it. They buy up rights to a show and chance the whole message of the story and the story itself. As Henry Cavil said, a fan has a right to get upset over it. Their fans is what got them here in the first place.

I'm completely open to diversity BUT make your own universe then where it was diverse from the start, don't go buying up IPs and changing them. What's next, the Braveheart remake will feature african american warriors now as well?

Also if someone cant enjoy something because its not diverse enough, they are the problem. They're extremely narrowdminded. I'm white and I didn't complain there were barely any white characters when Black Panther came out and I had a blast with the movie.

[Hotpot]

well that's because "giving it a chance" means we have to shell out the money upfront.

And it did fail because obviously it's not catering to the majority of potential buyers. If this were any other industries you'd be mad not making the product according to the market's taste. Imagine trying to sell steak to a vegan. But somehow in the gaming industries companies kept ridiculing would be buyers because they won't buy want they don't like.

[CantThinkOfAUsername]

For what it's worth, Jedi Fallen Order sold 8 million in 2.5 months and SW Battlefront II sold 9 million in a month.

[Profchaos]

Ouch that would mean they are subject to a licensing penalty for failing to sell a set minimum number.

Ubisoft are really on a roll they took such a promising concept and dragged it through the Ubisoft mines and spat it out with the most bland and boring looking game I've seen in years

[Terry_B]

Surprised it made even that.

[bigfish]

A protagonist to draw people in. That seems to one of the biggest and obvious things developers have been getting wrong of late.

[Fonsecap]

Wow, it selled that much? Guess the money spent on marketing payed off, they were able to sell a turd for full price

[Juancho51]

Deservedly so. Not because of the female lead, i dont care about that and will be buying Ghost of Yotei, it’s because of the shitty combat mechanics and the lack of inspiration. Mostly because all the Star Wars content outside of videogames is trash except for Mandalorian and Andor, so a game this big was bound to follow in those steps.

[Relientk77]

Yeah... for a license as big as Star Wars that seems kinda low.

[Toecutter00]

Game companies just refuse to learn. Three editions of a single player game with complete content hidden behind a price tag well over one hundred dollars turns away gamers. And after playing the game, it becomes obvious that content was cut out to sell premium editions. The market is too crowded these days and if you don't come with your A game you needn't bother.

[90sGamingWasBetter]

If they spent as much time on the game as they did on her chin it might have got somewhere....

[PapaBop]

Basically the whole gaming community saw that IGN footage and knew something was up but Ubi in their hubris just came out and declared it's gone gold and ready to ship. How dare gamers expect a premium relatively bug free game at a premium price point! It's about time Ubi od'd on humble pie.

[Rols]

Game would have resonated so much more with Han Solo and Chewbacca.

[Knushwood Butt]

Only Disney saw fit to turn Han into a buffoon and Chewie into (unfunny) comedy relief.

[Friendlygamer]

"What we are factoring in is a strong launch for Star Wars Outlaws," says Guillemot. "That’s the fact that it’s among the most awaited games of the industry this year and reflecting a really strong positive community sentiment, and also the fact that we are coming with the biggest marketing campaign ever so far for a Ubisoft game."

That last point about this being Ubisoft's "biggest marketing campaign ever" is an interesting one, but not too surprising when you think about it. Indeed, the game has been everywhere recently, getting shown off at a bunch of showcases, obviously including Ubisoft's own event.

Oh well...

[Knushwood Butt]

I live in Japan and haven't seen a thing for it, don't think any of the people living in Japan on my Friends list have been playing it, and last week walked into Aeon, where they sell physical games and don't recall seeing it on the shelf, yet they did have some obscure games on the shelf that caught my attention because I didn't even know what they were.

And Star Wars is big in Japan. Recently a woman in her 50s was talking to me about Mandalorian, which surprised me.

[Chilliersplash]

God , you lot really love games to fail don’t you

[Gamingsince1981]

Only ones that deserve it

[Games_People_Play]

I guess there aren’t as many female Star Wars gamers as you thought, huh Ubisoft?

[raWfodog]

So you think the game sold poorly just because it had a female lead? That doesn't seem like a good reason since we've had plenty of successful games with female leads (Lara Croft, Bayonetta, Aloy, Seamus, Jill Valentine, Claire Redfield, etc.). Most gamers just want a lead character that draws you in, is interesting, and fits in that game world.

[Games_People_Play]

Those examples are of attractive female characters, nobody wants a they/them Han Solo. She looks like she belongs in concord.
No, ty.

[Flewid638]

One of the most fun games I've played this year, and I'm not even a Star Wars fan.

I would still put Fallen Order / Jedi Survivor above it, but the atmospheric immersion vibes for Outlaws is on point.

[lucasnooker]

Ouch. It is bad considering the name “Star Wars” and how huge of a franchise it is. There must be something seriously wrong with this game

[Gamingsince1981]

Watch some gamwplay vids on YouTube, especially the stealth , then you will know.

[Christopher]

It's a half-arsed stealth and shooter game without Jedi focused on over exploration and constant slider management between the various cartels. Surprisingly, it's not a bad story. That's about all it has going for it. Too bad all that other stuff gets in the way. Also, space combat sucks because you're in a figurative Lincoln Continental alongside extremely mobile Tie Fighters and the like and apparently everyone goes where you go in the vastness of space.

[vTuro24]

For a game of this scale and the IP costs they probably have to pay, that's peanuts.

[Killer2020UK]

With so many options and many consumers with backlogs, sentiment is a huge factor in whether or not to give a game the time of day.

I don't doubt the paid locked content at launch debacle didn't help matters along with the general mixed reception with previews.