Ubisoft Shares Take a Hit as Analysts Predict Lower Than Expected Star Wars Outlaws Sales
Ubisoft’s share price has fallen following the launch of Star Wars Outlaws, which some analysts have said has come in below expectations.
Massive Entertainment’s Star Wars Outlaws, the first open-world Star Wars video game, launched on August 27 and since then Ubisoft’s share price has fallen 12.6% to a near 10-year low of 15.22 euros. At the time of this article’s publication, Ubisoft was valued at 1.96 billion euro.
Ubisoft failed to announce a sales target for Star Wars Outlaws ahead of launch, although it did say it expected the game to boost its earnings. According to Reuters, J.P.Morgan analyst Daniel Kerven said Star Wars Outlaws “has struggled to meet our sales expectations despite positive critical reviews.” IGN's Star Wars Outlaws review returned a 7/10. We said: "Star Wars Outlaws is a fun intergalactic heist adventure with great exploration, but it’s hindered by simple stealth, repetitive combat, and a few too many bugs at launch."
The analyst lowered sales expectations for Outlaws by two million units to 5.5 million for the current financial year which ends March 2025. Its development budget was said to be at least 30% higher than that of 2023’s Assassin's Creed Mirage, but Twitch data suggests Outlaws is underperforming Mirage by about 15%.
Outlaws isn’t the only game seemingly impacting Ubisoft shares. Free-to-play Call of Duty rival Xdefiant also appears to be having a tough time. Midcap Partners analyst Charles-Louis Planade told Reuters Xdefiant has seen lower than expected interest following a strong launch in May.
IGN has asked Ubisoft for comment.
The pressure is now on Assassin’s Creed Shadows, due out in November, to make a big impact on Ubisoft’s bottom line. Ubisoft is expected to report its second quarter earnings at some point in October.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
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