Summary
Star Wars: Outlawsreportedly sold less in Europe throughout 2024 thanStar Wars Jedi: Survivordid, despite Cal Kestis' game releasing a year earlier in 2023.
Despite being one of the most recognisable brand of all-time,Star Wars has had a bit of a rough go of things as of late. Disney seems to have no idea what to do with the series on the big screen,while its Disney Plus outings have had a very rocky track record outside of The Mandalorian. That Star Wars fatigue seems to have even crossed over somewhat into the world of video games.
Last year,Ubisoft launched the first ever open-world Star Wars game, Star Wars: Outlaws, which the publisher clearly thought was a jackpot waiting to happen. That wasn’t the case, though,as Outlaws underperformed both critically and commercially, leaving Ubisoft in a very rough position. It seems that Outlaws' failure wasn’t a case of Star Wars fatigue, however.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor Somehow Outperformed Outlaws In 2024
Earlier this week,Christopher Dring posted a feature on VGC that examined the current incredibly-troubled financial state of Ubisoft, who has had a lot of misses over the past few years. Unarguably the biggest of these, though, is Star Wars Outlaws, which should have been a surefire hit as a triple-A open-world Star Wars game.
That wasn’t the case, though, as the sales data shows that Outlaws has majorly underperformed,something that Ubisoft has acknowledged itself. What you might not know, though, is just how poorly Outlaws did in comparison to another recent Star Wars game - Jedi: Survivor. According to Dring, Outlaws sold less across Europe in 2024 than Jedi: Survivor did, despite it releasing a year earlier in 2023.
It felt like a bankable hit. Yet it missed spectacularly. Across Europe, the game was the 47th best-selling game of the year, and sold less than Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, which was released the year before. - Christopher Dring
There are a few factors to consider, of course. The first is that Jedi: Survivor was available for all of 2024, whereas Outlaws released in August, giving it a bit less time for sales.Jedi: Survivor also had a last-gen re-release that might have boosted sales a bit and helped it come out ahead. Even with those factors in mind, though, it’s clear that the problem lies specifically at Outlaws' and Ubisoft’s feet.
