Despite bringing in around $349.38 million in the first quarter of 2024, Ubisoft's stock prices have plummeted to a 20-year low following the release of Star Wars: Outlaws.

Although it's back up to $16.74, the stock bottomed out at $16.42 earlier today, last seen in 2014. For context, Assassin's Creed: Rogue came out that year.

The main, but not only, culprit behind Ubisoft's financial trouble is undoubtedly the troublesome launch of Star Wars: Outlaws. Analysts had lowered the number of expected sales from 8 million to 5.

Still, trouble began long before launch as the game's reveal trailerwas filled with gamers voicing their distrust of Ubisoft delivering a solid game and warning against preorders.

The story trailer was even worse as the French developers were put on blast for their "buying doesn't equal owning" practices and cooperation with Disney— gameplay graphics being significantly worse than cinematics bringing back Watch Dogs memories certainly didn't help either.

Outlaws' blunder might be the penultimate nail in Ubisoft's coffin. XDefiant, their Q1 safety net, is struggling to break 20 thousand concurrent cross-platform players, and Assassin's Creed: Shadows, the possible saving grace of 2024, is facing its own Ubisoft Vs Gamers moment.

Between cost-reduction programs, layoffs, and general Ubisoft-standard game releases, it's unclear what the company's current trajectory is— and if it's not profitable soon, someday, delaying investor's ROIs will bite.

Ubisoft controversy aside, is the game, the product people actually bought, any good?

Looking up the Metacritic score wouldn't answer this question in any meaningful manner.

Some proclaim "If you're a fan of Star Wars this game is no-brainer. The game makes you feel like you are actually in Star Wars," while others say that "Ubisoft continues the trend of limited, unpolished, lackluster games."

At this point, almost every part of the game is a tossup between lovable inclusion or horrible game design. User reviews are almost split down the middle between negative and positive ones.

The positive reviews praise the stealth sections, beautiful graphics, immersive Star Wars lore and vibes, combat, and story.

Negative reviews denounced forced stealth sections with outdated mechanics, PS4-era graphics, breaking away from Star Wars lore and vibes, and lackluster combat, story, and main character. Players also complained of buggy collectibles, achievements, and quests, despite downloading patches.

In reality, the "culture war" that has surrounded the game ever since its announcement is likely to dilute the real score.

While some negative reviews contain genuine critiques of the game, others simply lament the protagonist being a woman. In the same vein, some positive reviews offer no insight other than the game being good.

Ubisoft's games are always hit or miss— for every Far Cry 4 you have an Assassin's Creed Valhalla. But, critics, user reviews, plummeting stock prices, and hearsay shouldn't stop gamers from trying out and forming their own opinions about why a game is good or not.

Posted: Sep 09, 2024 12:41 pm
Related Forum: Gaming Discussion

Source: https://www.dualshockers.com/star-wars-outlaws-drags-ubisoft-stock-down/