
Last week, IGN published an exclusive look at a mission from Star Wars Outlaws. The video gave us our best glimpse of the open worlder so far, but the reception was actually quite negative. At the time of writing, the demo has 588k views, but it's sitting at just 11k likes versus 31k dislikes. And, as you might expect of such a ratio, the comments are absolutely filled with criticism.
Most notably, viewers are pointing out how "unpolished" and "unfinished" Outlaws looks — and with the title's August release date looming, there's concern regarding the game's overall quality. Indeed, there are definitely instances of a dodgy frame rate, alongside some examples of rough animations and visual effects.
Of course, these are exactly the kind of details that detractors will prey upon — but the negatively has sparked a response from Ubisoft itself. When the video, and its criticism, was brought up during the publisher's latest financial call, CFO Frederick Duguet had to respond (as per PC Gamer).
"The game has gone gold, so the date is well confirmed for August 30," said Duguet, as talk of a potential delay emerged. "We'll shortly be seeing more content of very high quality and multiple hours that will really show the depths of the open world that is a key element of the promise to enjoy the exploration of the galaxy with multiple planets, so that should bode well for the game in terms of high-quality delivery," he added.
It goes without saying that the marketing machine for Outlaws will be kicking into full gear soon — and Ubisoft clearly plans on showing much more of the game as we close in on its launch. Here's hoping that this bout of negativity isn't amplified, and Outlaws does eventually deliver.
What have you made of Star Wars Outlaws up until now? Are you hyped for release, or do you share these concerns? Evade the Empire at all costs in the comments section below.
[source pcgamer.com]
Comments 71
I didn't watch the trailer so as not to spoil anything but it is a Ubi game so I expect a few bugs etc on launch.
I have no issue with the Ubi formula it is pure comfort food and being wrapped in Star Wars makes it even tastier
It's a Ubisoft game best left for a few months for patches and discounts.
The gameplay looked fine to me. I don't need state of the art graphics in my games, and I thought the 10 minute gameplay video looked pretty good. I'm not even a Star Wars fan, so it's not like I'm biased with that. Whether I get it day one or not depends on a few things, but if that doesn't work out, I can always get it on discount later.
Ubisoft:Ehh let's release it now and fix it laters,gamers are already used to unfinished releases!
I’ve got high hopes for this game, but will definitely be waiting for reviews before pulling the trigger!
@MasterVGuides the fact that you’re not a Star Wars fan is the reason you’re so unbiased and even-keeled as it pertains to this. Unisoft and Star Wars are always maligned and prejudged so I expected nothing less no matter the outcome of the trailer and gameplay.
The haters hating as usual. I'll be playing 3 days early.
It'll be $50 by Black Friday.
I'm in desperate need for a game I want to get stuck into and this really appeals to me. I'm likely to get it day one regardless.
It's called "Bethesda approach to marketing games" fyi
WHY CAN THEY KEEP GETTING AWAY WITH THIS!?
It's always the same thing. Every single game of theirs. Unpolished, unfinished, clunky gameplay, sloppily written. Always. Eh whatever...
Consoomers love mediocrity. Nothing to do about it.
@Lup
> People voice solid criticism over a "AAA" game having sharp edges and probably all the other problems Ubisoft games always have.
> Haters! How dare they want something better for 70+ bucks!?
@Specky you can't keep crying about Ubisoft. You're not achieving anything other than stinking up the comments section. Take a holiday or something.
@JohntheRaptor
And you can't expect people not to criticise the next big release in the industry. Some people have standards.
If it were up to you lot, we'd still receive garbage Spider-Man games from Activision for a second decade and you'd STILL defend them. You've seen the potential when Sony took over, expect the same from other big releases.
These publishers being cheapskates doesn't favour the consumer in any shape or form
@themightyant
It's a Ubisoft game best left for a few months for patches and discounts.
And you said it so perfectly. Though that’s goes for most big games nowadays not just Ubisoft.
With a few exceptions, Astro Bots will probably be all good on day of release and normally most Nintendo games are.
@LazyLombax tbh 15-20 hours to finish an open world game sounds great.
@Specky remember xDefiant?😂 games on life support already! hahaha
and idk about activision, they had some banger spider-man games - Spider-man PS1, Spider-man 2, Ultimate Spider-man, Shattered Dimensions, Web of Shadows (although actually mid) still was special
It'll be a fine game, games don't have to be 10/10 all the time, that's dumb.
So it's a classic Ubisoft game then. Like all of their games it will be more than half off in 2-3 months and be fully patched so it makes no sense to buy it on release other than you have no patience.
I’m not a fan of Star Wars since the original trilogy, but Jedi: Fallen Order and Jedi: Survivor were both quite good. Those are not Ubisoft games, but perhaps this game will keep with the tradition of decent games in spite of low quality streaming shows.
Not sure what IGN vid this is referring to but I did watch about a minute this morning of the main character in search of a sarlacc tooth which made me decide the only reason this game takes place when it does is for the talking C-3PO head. 😂
Other than that it looked like a PS3 game, or Forspoken, which itself looked like a PS3 game, at least in the demo. Both her speeder and spaceship looked like it was standing still while the background was moving, not sure how else to describe it.
I’m not a Ubi hater, I thought Immortals was good as were the 2 Mario v Rabbids strategy games, I just know I didn’t like what I saw. Certainly didn’t look as good as the recent Tomb Raider trilogy. May borrow it from the library next year if it reviews well, we’ll see.
@Thatguyoverthere Looking at some of these comments proves your point. Gamers never learn.
At this point they are going to show the whole game pre release
@Lup What does a 3-day-early access for AAA games really mean? It means that the game gets a discount only three days after release. The actual release date is August 27, not August 30. But I‘m happy for you.
Looks unpolished and it’d benefit a lot for a couple more months in the oven? Absolutely.
Should it get all this hate as if it was the worst game ever made? Not in the slightest.
Although I'll be skipping Outlaws, I will still watch streams and videos on it which is good enough for me.
It’s Ubi, by the time I get round to it, it’ll be a fraction of the price and will actually work.
@Max_the_German
Thanks, man. I'm happy too. 🥳
Just watched the 10 min. gameplay and well, to me, everything about it just feels very generic open-world mechanics (regardless if it's polished or not). I'm just glad that I wasn't hyped for this and the more reason to skip. But I am more worried about AC: Shadows since that's the one I'm (cautiously) looking forward to.
@BeerIsAwesome
What alternate universe Star Wars fandom are you talking about? As far as I can tell, if it's new and says Star Wars in the title most fans hate it even before they see what it's about. Star Wars fans HATE Star Wars these days.
The only thing that will keep me from buying this game is if it shows up with 30FPS as its only option. If it isn't 60FPS it stays at the store.
It's not like this is out of the ordinary for Ubisoft
@rjejr yes I know what you mean..reminded me of how the sand speeder section in the snes star wars game looked 🤣
Here we go again. Developer ignores feedback, game releases in bad shape, fans say we told you so, developer makes excuses, fans don't buy the game, game fails and developer blames fans.
When you are trying to convince people to give you money, you might want to listen or don't be surprised when they don't give you money.
For what it’s worth, I saw the gameplay video and I canceled my preorder and switched it to space marine 2 instead.
It's amazing that people still act surprised after countless failures from Ubisoft. I hope this game is decent for those looking forward to it but I'm very doubtful
I don't know why people buy Ubisoft games on launch. All their games are sold at half price just a month or three later. Half a year to a year and they slash the price by 70-90 percent.
Ubisoft simply doesn't care anymore.. For years I've wanted a sequel for Rayman Legends, but considering how much Ubi butchered pretty much everything they bring out lately, yeah.. never mind.
I can only hope people will see the light and stop supporting such a ***** company.
If I was Ubisoft, I would brush off all the stuff too, because all of a sudden they’re like Nickelback. it’s cool to hate Ubisoft, regardless of output.
Their community manager said the game wasn't made for me, I'm going to take her word for it.
I'm getting it day one, hoping it will still be fun, but yes game looks average in the graphics department, the explosions really stood out as they looked like 2 gens ago.
Massive released Avatar and that looked great but the gameplay was very repetitive and unexciting so hoping outlaws will be the opposite
@nomither6
Naming their game xDefiant was the nail in the coffin lol. Sounds like some prime 9gag kid got to name the game.
And yeah, SM2 and SM Ultimate were freaking amazing. Everything that came afterwards was a huge letdown in terms of quality and web swinging (which they had perfected on PS2). They kinda felt cheap and what Activision was doing at that time (after COD MW2) was very shady. They were saints in today's standards, but still lol
@Northern_munkey I don't have much S/NES experience, I usually compare stuff to the static background look of FF7, 8 & 9, but to it's credit it didn't look quite like a PS1 game, just, off.
Probably doesn't help I just finished 90 hours in FF7 Rebirth. The story and mini games had some odd choices but the openish world looked really good for a 3rd party game. This isn't comparable.
@BeerIsAwesome
Once I realized that nothing is ever made for the fans by big corporations and that these franchises are now simply there to make money I started enjoying things again. I now have the "it is what it is" attitude. Some things are crap, some things are good, some things are excellent, but none of it is made for the consumer/fan.
Creators are so beholden to shareholders now we will never see this change. It's all numbers on a spreadsheet.
I will take a look as soon as locked 60fps is confirmed.
I don't see anything wrong, it looks like Jedi Knight on modern GPU.
I don’t envy any developer facing the combined forces of a Star Wars gamer fanbase - you’re always going to have to put up with a lot of harsh criticism. But if I can make my own character and pew-pew some aliens and speed around in a vroomy vehicle I’ll be happy enough.
Instead of "This isn't the delay you're looking for", you should of went with Off Pissed You Will Be
Although I think this graphical implementation is terribly weak for a AAA title in 2024, I believe the biggest problem will be with the gameplay itself. Many may find joy in the lengthy, copy-pasted missions for XP grinding, which add nothing substantial to the story, merely to be able to enter a higher-level area without being killed in one hit / shot, but for me, this is not fun. At all.
I'm well over a year behind.on games so it will be nice and fixed when I get round to playing.
I've been sold on the game since it's reveal, so I could really care less what people on social media think of it. If the reviews are mediocre, maybe that will change my plans of getting it on Day 1 (the day before my birthday), but I would still get it regardless.
I know a lot of people would say it's blasphemy to get a Ubisoft game at release, but I also don't care about that either.
I'll wait a year until Ubisoft fixes all the bugs and it's on Ebay for $30
The unpolished narrative is valid but also extremely selective in terms of when it's acknowledged depending on the dev/publisher.
Yet devs from Square Enix and From soft have gotten a pass for releasing unpolished titles for 15 years in from case and garnering critical and gamer acclaim.
Yet when it comes to Ubisoft or because it's EA, it's made a pariah by "journalists," and regurgitators alike.
I am tired of games releasing unpolished as much as the next. I just wish games were judged equally on the technical front.
Removed - offensive remarks
Meesa no thinksa this a good idea.
@MFTWrecks still that high? Screw that.
@rjejr granted my example was extreme but it kind of reminded me of that section. The background looked a bit superimposed...who knows maybe it's a deliberate homage to the original movies blue screens 🤣
Not arsed what other people are saying about this, I like the look of it and that's all that matters.
I’ve seen ps3 games better than this
I just check the gameplay video where the MC got shot and she's screaming but with very minimal body animation or hit stun to show the impact that she got shot by a blaster gun. It just looks weird.
Or when she shoot an explosives that closed to her and the explosion blasted the enemies who stand quite far but she doesn't showed any reaction / animation from the explosion, at least covered her face from the debris or something.
I mean, if this an AA game then i personally can tolerate some janky or unpolished animation. But it's an AAA game with 70 bucks price tag and Ubisoft boasted they had the biggest marketing budget for this game. So i think the critics about it looks unpolished or unfinished are pretty on point and justified.
It's a Ubisoft game best left for a few months for patches and discounts.
You missed off the other element, @themightyant; leave it a few months for a substantial discount too...!
I normally pre-order every game that I am interested in, and also the best version too, but on seeing the frankly obscene price of £120 for the Ultimate edition, I opted to forgo pre-ordering this game, and instead will be one of those that waits those few months for precisely those reasons that you highlight (and mine too) as we all know that Ubisoft are very quick to offer decisive price cuts...
@Fiendish-Beaver I agree wholeheartedly... except I didn't miss off discounts that's what the last word was for. ("for patches AND discounts")
The visuals and polish are the least of the problems though, sure hope the full game is more interesting and inspired gameplay wise.
@HamKnight you’re in the wrong “everyone hates Ubisoft for things they give other developers a pass for” article.
@IamJT Wait, you're right. My apologies!
Oh, yes, @themightyant! Oops... 😂
@Northern_munkey " who knows maybe it's a deliberate homage to the original movies blue screens 🤣 "
Your emoji may be laughing but that would at least give them an excuse for it to look like that, b/c it kinda really does look "cheesy". 😜
Somebody should make a cheesy bad looking sci-fi game w/ Buck Rodgers, Flash Gordon, Battlestar Galatica and the like. Mostly little kids, dogs and robots. 😂
@rjejr I'd go for starcrash..truly awful movie that has the Hoff in it although I watched it more than a few times when I was a kid so it must have something..right?
@rjejr your avatar..is that the watcher?
@Northern_munkey Starcrash? Wow, how'd I miss that one, looks epic. May have to go find it bootleg on YT.
I've always been a big "Battle Beyond the Stars" fan. John Saxon doesn't get nearly enough respect.
@Northern_munkey Oh yeah, almost forgot, yes that is the Watcher. I liked what he said, though you can't read it here b/c it's too small. 😜
The quote is:
"I have come to witness the worst choice that any living being has ever made in the history of thought. And the immediate consequences thereof."
So, basically, like anytime someone tweets something out. 😂
That gameplay is likely from a build that is 6 months old or more, so really, it doesn't represent the final product at all.
Minor graphical/framerate hiccups, I can look past. As long as the gameplay feels fun and varied. Being that it's another Ubisoft open world affair, I'm hoping for some stuff that isn't too derivative. I expect side quests, a few collect-a-thons, but hopefully it can steer toward some truly unique experiences that I haven't really had.
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