In hindsight, Ubisoft should have delayed Assassin’s Creed Shadows earlier and pushed Star Wars Outlaws into the open worlder’s November release slot. That would have given both teams plenty of time to polish up their titles, and perhaps we’d be looking at a less dire situation for the French publisher.
Still, the damage has been done, and now comes the recovery mission. After a soft launch, the firm’s said it’s committed to growing Star Wars Outlaws’ sales through the holiday period, and thus it’s released a roadmap of upcoming fixes. The first update, due 3rd October, will crush a bunch of bugs – while its 24th October patch will incorporate various quality of life improvements.
Then comes the big one: 21st November will see the release’s first major expansion, Wild Card, deploy. It’ll also add free contracts and make sweeping changes to the combat and stealth. That’s just before Black Friday by the way, so expect some absolutely enormous discounts as Ubisoft seeks to boost the title’s disappointing sales.
It’s a sound strategy, and we suspect it’ll come good – but it’s a damning indictment of PS5 gaming today. There’s rarely ever any incentive to buy titles at launch, as prices tend to get slashed and patches improve the overall experience. Why pre-order when you can get a superior experience at a later date for half the price?
[source twitter.com]
Comments 79
The last full game I bought at launch was Dying Light 2. Since then I’ve only purchased a few DLCs at launch (Phantom Liberty and The Final Shape). But now I always wait for sales and patches.
I just finished the game 2 days ago and thought it was really good.
I only buy games at launch if I feel the devs both need and deserve it. Voting with my wallet, as it were. Even then, I probably won't play them for several months as I know there will be patches and improvements incoming.
Is Star Wars really worth the blind devotion people still give its products these days?
It’s a fair point, especially with Ubisoft games. I’ve enjoyed a long tradition of picking up the latest Assassin’s Creed title during the holiday sale and playing it through the doldrums of winter. Still, there are always games like Astrobot where waiting for a sale requires more self denial than I’m equipped with.
I tend to buy the games I want to support on day one, and then, they go straight into the hell of my nightmarish backlog.
Sometimes for years.
Just too many games and not enough time.
So in general, I'm playing fully patched versions. And rightfully so : you do not want to rush into a new game these days...
@Bobobiwan Why not just buy them when you're ready to play them, though? Even with Sony's games (which don't get discounted much anymore) you could still save £10-£20 by waiting.
I don’t really buy games as they’re expensive to be honest. Got the new faux-FIFA for my birthday so that’s all my mindless sh*t covered for a year. I usually dabble in a big game alongside evergreen ones so this is perfect for me on that front… if it goes cheap by Christmas or I leave it for eventual PS Plus. Still waiting on Jedi Survivor actually, could see that hitting PS Plus next year.
@get2sammyb Could be just to support specific studios. I usually do that for indies, but did it for Astro Bot as well.
Last game I pre-ordered was Fallout 4 Collectors Edition. Biggest let down of my gaming life, luckily got most of my money back by selling it. Now I never buy anything without checking gameplay, mechanics, stability and vibe.
Most games get bought on sale (excluding an indie game here and there) it takes an amazing gem of a game to part 70$ from my wallet.
@Ainu20 That's fair I suppose!
I'll admit I was somewhat excited for this game. I am enjoying it a fair amount, but also at times finding it a bit dull. I think a small part of that is the fact that I'm playing it at a very slow, drip-feed pace. The other aspect is the game feels somewhat limited in variety and interesting things early on, which matches some of the reviews I saw.
I’m still enjoying Rebirth far too much to notice this. 190 hours on route to platinum
Any major release that I don’t plan on playing day one I wait for a sale. Any release by sega/atlus I want to play l’ll wait 3 weeks and it will be on sale at half price. Anything made by funcom is day one. I only buy Ubisoft games when there half off because there games are hit or miss even in the same series.
I’m interested in outlaws and I’ve seen a lots of comments by people who don’t lose their mind when the lead character is female that the game is actually good outside of the stealth so I’ll be picking it up at half price, probably digital, maybe PC. Really wish Sony would launch a PlayStation store for PC where I can get both versions for either free or a $10 upgrade but that will probably never happen.
All my consoles and systems are old and long disconnected, so I really only buy used games. And even then, I barely buy any. Mostly receiving them as gifts.
@Fartingale That's been my experience as well. If I filter out the ones raging about "woke" or "DEI" nonsense, I notice people actually enjoyed Outlaws and that it's a good game, but offered constructive criticism on parts that fell short of "good".
It's not that there isn't incentive to buy games at lauch; there's no incentive to buy Ubisoft games at launch.
Games like Astro Bot, Stellar Blade, Black Myth Wukong, Baldur's Gate 3, FF16, FF7 Rebirth and a bunch of other games are absolutely worth the price at launch.
I finished this game last week and enjoyed it. Flawed but fun. I put in about 50 hours and got very few bugs. Some flickering on some ship launches and one time where a glass was hanging in midair over a cantina bar. That is it.
I just….I don’t see how any patch fixes what people did not like about this. I really liked it-the Star Wars atmosphere is off the charts. But I just think the stealth base of the game and a pretty slight story turned a lot of people off.
I want the game to do well-I would play a sequel for sure. But I don’t think this is a matter of polish or a patch. I think a lot of folks are rejecting what the game is. I don’t think that is fixable.
I usually pre order Sony games I want to play.
3rd party games I will wait for a performance review.
If all good and i like what i read in normal reviews then i will pre order (if the performance reviews are out in time) / buy.
Any major issues with framerate (but the game is good otherwise), and I will wait for it to be patched, then if properly patched I will wait for the next sale. If not properly patched i will skip.
I don't think Ubi will manage to pull a CP2077/No Man's Sky.
Not because its impossible, core gameplay is fine from what I've seen, but rather because the game failed to gather interest from people.
If a game isn't interesting then people won't bother with it.
There's no guarantee Outlaws would have sold better in November. Sure the game might have been slightly more polished, but I don't really think the game's soft sales are due to it being janky or unfinished. I feel like there was a collective shrug about the game.
honestly its disgusting how we have to wait months for a released game to be in an acceptable state. the resolution alone is enough to ruin my experience.
Migrating over here from NintendoLife and this is literally the first article I’ve ever read on this site.
We don’t see much of Ubisoft over there, but even we know what to expect. Mario+Rabbids sold incredibly well (I think around 8 million last I heard?) and the sequel… didn’t? And not for lack of quality, I think people genuinely anticipated deeeeeeep sales because that’s what Ubisoft does. It’s embarrassing
In my opinion, Games are not worth the asking price at launch - even if they were 'finished, complete and polished', I wouldn't pay more more than £50 for a game - it will be on sale (especially on Disc in some cases) and/or much more likely to be 'finished, complete and as 'polished' as its likely to get on the Hardware.
Ubisoft games in particular feel so generic and whilst they may look great, they also seem somewhat repetitive to play too. It feels copy, pasted and reskinned for new game content. They also have big sales expectations, then when they don't sell 'big' numbers, they drop quickly in price to 'sell' and of course they have their own Sub Service too which will affect sales as well.
With a massive Backlog of games - not actually helped by Backwards Compatibility as that adds all those Last gen Games I have to finish as well. Not only that, Last gen games are still 'great' and also 'cheap' now in sales. Not only that, with Sub Services offering games to play, even if not adding something 'new' that week/month you really want to play, they have 100's of games to try instead of paying £70 to be disappointed at launch...
Now I have 100's of games I can fill my limited Gaming time with right now without having to spend anything. If I never bought a game again, I still have more hours of gaming in my backlog that I wouldn't need to replay any game and still wouldn't run out of games. Therefore, I don't 'need' to add to my backlog, I can also wait until it becomes cheap enough that I want to jump in - I still haven't bought Avatar or Hogwarts Legacy - but both are on my watch list to buy for the right price.
Each to their own of course but nowadays, I prefer to wait and try to keep up to date on patches, updates, content drops etc and prices so I can decide if I think its at the right time and at the right price to jump in - and unless its a 'complete' (inc DLC - like a Special/Gold/Premium edition), I won't pay £50, let alone more, for any game.
@Medic_alert I have a relative who DID pay the $70 for Tears of the Kingdom as a huge Zelda fan. But won’t spend that much for any PS games Just doesn’t feel it’s worth it what with things needing updates or still having DLC when most games feel incomplete anymore.
And the delay of AC:S might sound good, but it’s no guarantee for a high degree of polish. It depends on the working culture and qualities of heads: If they are poor, then the devs are pushed to integrate new stuff which was skipped before, because „you have plenty of time now“. And the original goal, to polish the game with the existing content, gets lost.
I don’t believe in a good working culture at these Ubi studios.
Ubisoft games go cheap fast, and don't have the reputation for quality that pulls me to buy a game at launch.
Most Ubisoft games end up on my wishlist - to see the amazing settings if nothing else - but I can wait years before buying one
Nice! Can't wait to buy this much improved in 2 years time by getting the Gold Edition for 66% off!
Gaming as a whole though is starting to ruin itself and it’s showing in the numbers.
A very small example:
Last generation 5 of us day one PS4 Pro.
This generation 1 out of 5 day one PS5 Pro, reason diminishing returns.
Star Wars outlaws, 3 of us definitely were buying day one, result zero of us did, reason overall not a great quality game.
My point, manufacturers and developers are slowly ruining things and losing sales, which in turn will hurt them and the industry and us.
They are turning into a make a fast buck industry, rather than giving good value for money and top quality.
@TrickyDicky99 I feel like this gen is more about making everything look “pretty” graphics wise, instead of making things worthy of being played. I mean, I could be wrong. But it’s just what I have noticed.
The scores show it all in the last two big franchise UBI games.
Avatar - 72 meta
Sw outlaws - 76 meta
The industry’s quality overall is going to pot and they wonder why sales of both games and consoles are stagnant or reducing.
It’s becoming a charge more for less quality industry and make a quick buck, overall.
Yes there is the odd amazing example like Astro Bot, but these examples are getting less and less.
I only buy PS first party games at launch, and even still I wait for reviews to be sure there's nothing majorly wrong. Would never buy a Ubisoft AAA at launch
Ubisoft is in trouble... I don't buy alot of ubi games, they don't appeal to me but they have some great IP and Id really like to see them capitalize on it. A triple A splinter cell game? Gimme.
I don't want to see them fall, they just need to figure out what gamers want.
I just think the desire for these humongous open worlds aren't what they used to be?
These games you mention are for specific tastes, I would normally never purchase any of them because i'm not really interested but i did gamble on bm wukong and i lost and if i had known i would of got sw outlaws instead.
@Afroducc Everyone wanted open world, until the point where everything was like that. And just became over saturated. At least, that’s what I have noticed.
Assassins Creed Valhalla made over 1 billion dollars apparently?
It's actually always been this way, think about it? if they stuck with old rendering tech why would anyone upgrade to a new system? I just picked up Days Gone second hand for £15 and performance is solid but it's starting to look dated compared to new games imho, it's not bad but it could do with a lick of paint I thought.
I wouldn't pay £10 for this game not because i hate it but because it does not interest me at all. Many have the same taste in things and some of us don't.
@torquex
Totally agree everyone has different tastes.
But as game that is produced in terms of quality and being critical acclaimed it’s up there.
Quality is where it's at, good to know.
Why would you ever want to buy Ubisoft titles at launch.
@BAMozzy For me it depends on what game there are game that are worth full price just not a lot.
@get2sammyb I know, it just does not make any sense. I guess it is my collector's side, I don't know.
And it's the same with movies : I buy 4k blurays faster that I'm able to watch them, so, it's a nightmare to organize xD
For example : I just beat Doom 2016.
And I had it since, well... 2016 xD
And after that, I launched Mario Odyssey, cause I wanted something light to enjoy. But sometimes I don't wait that much : I do plan to play Astrobot just after Odyssey.
This is why PS5 PRO will be a good purchase for me : I have yet so much - not so recent - games to discover in their most glorious form !
FFVII Rebirth, for example. Bought the special edition (with a steelbook and an artbook) at launch. Still in its blister.
It will be my first game to play on the PRO !
You should never buy Ubisoft games day one. They are always unfinished buggy mess.
Yes, a strategy that proves my rule. Never buy games on day one. Astro excluded.
All they had to do was make a red dead in space. Instead we get disneys solo but much much worse
@personauser93 yes ,unless it's pure garbage like the acolyte.
I like buying games at launch it's exciting , but companies need to get out of this we will just fix it later mentality , I know it won't be the devs who actually make the game ,they pour there heart and soul into it , its the top brass putting them under extreme pressure, also if it's a franchise you love or a sequel you been waiting years for , chances are if you wait ,the majority of the game will be spoilt by idiots revealing the story , well unless you go live In a cave for a few months.
I’ve played a few hours and really enjoyed it so far! Though I’m wondering if I should put it one side and wait for all these improvements. I bought it along with Spider-Man 2, which isn’t gripping me as much as I thought. Might be worth moving onto that for now.
@Flaming_Kaiser Again - from MY perspective, NO game is worth more than £50 - whether that is Full price or sale price. Yes I may have paid £50+ on N64 but at the time Cartridges were costing £30-35 to manufacture and were built into 'hardware' so I won't accept that argument and now games a=have little/no distribution or manufacturing costs as the vast majority buy Digitally.
When I can buy games like the Witcher 3 - Complete Edition for under £20 for example, arguably one of the best games released or pick up many other AAA games for under £30 - less than half the price they launched at often within a year of release, no game is worth paying 'more' just because its a 'new' release....
Unless its a Sony Exclusive, most games are cheaper on PC for a 'better' game as you can play at higher Frame Rates and higher graphical settings. Games haven't got 'better' to play in general -the same game-play loops we had a decade or more ago, now just look more impressive. The stories, the game-play etc haven't improved. So many remasters too hold up today because the game-play and story are still great.
As I said, each to their own but I don't think any game is worth more than £50 at most and I'd pay that much for a Complete edition, polished and complete at launch...
I just finished it yesterday and mostly enjoyed it stealth sections weren't the best but exploring the world was fun and Nix was awesome.
I'm enjoying it so far, I like the open word Ubi games, just comfort food. True they always hit heavy discount and you can get an easy contender for GOTY for less than £20 now in PoP The Lost Crown also a Ubi game, don't sleep on it folks!
Why pre-order when you can get a superior experience at a later date for half the price?
Prices for digital games aren't guaranteed to drop to half price or less as quick as physical games if ever at all, milking the consumer even more.
I was quite interested in getting Outlaws, but as I was on holiday when it was released, plus having a massive backlog, I was content in leaving it for a little while.
This roadmap has essentially told me not to buy it until after November and probably again not until January sales or another 2025 promotion.
And this is from someone one who likes Star Wars and seemingly perversely, the Ubisoft ‘map cluttered with items’ gaming style (it’s like comfort food for me)
I had planned to buy this game but not at full Price. It's just too expensive for what you get. A shame because admittedly the Star Wars kid in me really likes the look of it.
I only buy Sony first party at launch and even those games get minor performance/improvement patches within a few months. I'm a huge Star Wars fan but I'm definitely waiting on a discount for Outlaws and when that arrives, the necessary patches will hopefully have been implemented.
Most of us hardly buy games anymore.
I think the last I bought was BG3 and I paid in full. I haven't bothered to finish a playthrough yet, and part of the reason is that patches and content are flowing in.
I like Star Wars, but I am tired of the same old gameplay - I have read that shooting on scooters doesn't feel good, and stealth is too rudimentary. This is probably the main reason why many abstain. And personally I have even tried Jedi Survivor.
Why bought games $70 at release when you can buy it at least half price 6 month later? Thanks to modern gaming I don't have FOMO anymore and it saved me so much money lol.
I think I'm only hyped for japan/chinese/korea AAA games and indie games now.
ps. It's kind of wild that EA make better star wars games than ubisoft, when I heard star wars isn't exclusive to EA anymore way back then, I though ubisoft will make better games than EA.
This is sad cause Massive is a good team capable of making great games. Having the lead of division 2 gave me a lot of hope for this game and it was very sad to see how poor this game did at launch. Having busted stealth and crappy feeling shooting is nuts with how good division is. At the very least Ubisoft is unbeaten with post game updates so not worried on that note but was expecting way more out of them. It’s going to be ***** nuts too see a very likely scenario where warhammer 40k game is going to chart higher then a Star Wars game.
@Medic_alert My friends and I do.
This might just be me but if a game is quality production and worth supporting, I even go out of my way to purchase it at full price even if I may not have the time to finish.
I would by it if it had a VR mode ...
@personauser93
Yes lol
Good old Ubisoft, constantly reminding us why it's wise to never buy their games on day one.
It's wild to me that singleplayer games are getting these "roadmaps". Having a couple DLCs planned is fine, but it's crazy that singleplayer one-and-done games need this kind of post-launch patch support just to make the game finished.
Gameplay video don't inspire any hope for this tripe for me.
I’m surprised that a game that’s biggest selling point is it being a smuggler fantasy didn’t have a character creator. Seems like that would have been a home run for a game like this. Even some basic hair options would be nice.
@BAMozzy That is your perspective I have game at €70 and I got my moneys worth. Demon Souls the remake easy at 125 hours I can't say personally that is to much. Final Fantasy 7/8/9 hundreds of hours, Resident Evil, Dino Crisis, Donkey Kong Country, Super Metriod, Metal Gear Solid, Devil May Cry. All worth my money and SNES games were expensive.
I hate roadmaps just release a full game and let me pay for a expansion. Put out a complete edition with everything on the disc in the end and don't discount it.
@WhensDinner Why not do expansions instead then you can add more and better content.
Well I like it.
Can someone explain the benefit of pre-ordering? And I mean literally, like how does paying for a game months before it releases help you or better your life in any way? I'm genuinely curious.
I'm only buying games at launch when this title is a must play for me as it's one of my favorite games ever (For example: Dragon Age, Yakuza, God of War ... etc)
Other games I'll happily wait for them.
sadly i'm often pulled in to day one buying, due to the lack of other games to play. I don't like horror, souls like or pixel art. So this limits choice most of the time.
Never paying 70 quid though. i find that price way too much.
@Amnesiac for sure. AstroBot was a preorder for me...
I'll get Outlaws later.
I'll get this game some day. As far as I know, it's already pretty good. So can get only better.
I played about 5 hours of it and thought it was just ok. The facial animations really annoyed me, very janky, and the gameplay was underwhelming.
I’m a Star Wars fan though, so it’s probably worth a heavily discounted purchase.
Probably.
@Medic_alert I haven't paid full price yet and it's not because I can't afford it. I think the most I paid was £58 for Baldurs Gate 3.
I do have quite a few games that often retail at £70, but they would have been purchased heavily discounted.
They keep saying games haven't gone up in price, they hadn't, but the amount sold was going up by huge amounts.Some of these big companies will end up bankrupting themselves before long.
Noted: IF I want to play this play it later NEXT year when they have patched it, release the complete edition and it is lower in price.
That's trash. Just release the finished game on the first go. Why should we need to wait months after release for "stealth and combat improvements?"
Not every game can be Cyberpunk or No Man's Sky. For Star Wars Outlaws this is too little too late!
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