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 sales report where Ubisoft emphasized Star Wars Outlaws and Assassin's Creed Shadows as key drivers of future growth.
Despite positive critical reception, sales have been described as sluggish. J.P. Morgan analyst Daniel Kerven revised his sales projections downward from 7.5 million units to 5.5 million units by March 2025. This sales shortfall contributed to a consecutive two-day drop in Ubisoft's share price, reaching its lowest point since 2015.
Ubisoft's Q1 report also highlighted a 15% increase in console and PC session days, primarily due to Games-as-a-Service titles. Monthly active users (MAUs) reached 38 million, a 7% year-on-year increase. However, the underperformance of Star Wars Outlaws overshadowed this positive news.
The discrepancy between critical acclaim and player reception is notable. While Metacritic shows a user score of only 4.5/10, Game8 awarded Star Wars Outlaws a 90/100 rating, praising it as an exceptional Star Wars title. [Link to Game8 review would go here]. The future success of Ubisoft hinges, in part, on the performance of Assassin's Creed Shadows, which the company also positions as a significant long-term asset.
