Early Star Wars Outlaws PS5 players paid $110 only to have Ubisoft issue a new patch and tell them to start a new save file or face game-breaking bugs

gamesradar.com:

Star Wars Outlaws is now available for players who spent the extra cash for a fancy edition with early access, but the most eager of those players on PS5 are facing the threat of game-breaking progression issues following a patch that rolled out shortly after launch.

The official release date of Star Wars Outlaws is August 30, but if you spend $110 USD on the Gold Edition or $130 on the Ultimate Edition, you get three days of early access. On PS5, early access began at midnight the morning of August 27 in your local time zone, and player reports suggest that a patch updating the game to version 1.000.002 rolled out a few hours after that launch.

PS5 players who started their games in that window between the early access launch and the release of the patch are now facing the potential of game-breaking bugs. "As one of the players affected who had access to an older version of the game, we are aware you might be encountering some issues after this recent patch," Ubisoft said in an email to affected players that's now making the rounds on Reddit.

Ubisoft isn't specific about the exact nature of these bugs, but says once the patch is installed, you should "start a new save to fully enjoy Star Wars Outlaws as our team intended. If you continue on a prior save you will unfortunately face issues and progression blockers." Reports from players suggest that the bug will have you stuck in space, unable to land on-planet again. This apparently occurs after the False Flag mission that first sends you to space.

I've reached out to Ubisoft for additional information, and will update this story if I learn more.

Again, the bug only seems to affect PS5 players, and only if you started a game before the 1.000.002 patch was issued. Eurogamer reports that one of its reviewers was already on the 1.000.002 patch a few days before launch, so it's unclear why that update had not yet rolled out to all players.

Either way, it's an immensely frustrating situation for early access players.