In 2020, Massive Entertainment presented Lucasfilm Games with a concept for a new game in the Star Wars series. Behind closed doors, the developers discussed the idea of an open world starring a rogue smuggler, which they were given the green light to do. It turns out that the team was not working Star Wars 1313 and above Outlaws, which players hated long before its release. In today’s article, we’ll look at the major issues facing the latest Ubisoft release.
Remember Star Wars 1313?
Briefly about the development
The game was created by a team of 600 people and 11 Ubisoft studios, including Massive Entertainment. The creative director of the project was Julian Gerighty, who worked on both games in the past. Tom Clancy’s The Division. Narrative director Navid Khavari later joined development. Far Cry 5 and 6) and lead writer Nikki Foy (Watch Dogs: Legion, Far Cry 6 DLC). Not surprised by the lack of plot in these games, Lucasfilm Games began helping the team with the Outlaws’ lore and time period – between parts 5 and 6 of the film saga.
Based on the available information, it cannot be said that the development took place with disputes or strict demands on the part of Lucasfilm Games, as was the case with Respawn and its Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order. However, there was still a resonance – from the players during the announcement.
Raw product
Massive Entertainment presented the trailer and the first gameplay in June 2023 as part of the Xbox Games Showcase and Ubisoft Forward respectively. Players liked the world design on display and the ability to travel to different planets without downloads, which was not the case Starfield. While the weak graphics, the lopsided shooting, the far from smooth gameplay and the primitive intelligence of opponents were criticized.
The active discontent started to grow this year with the release of the story trailer. It was dedicated to the main character Kay Wess. The players did not like another self-repetition regarding the fight against the syndicate (Ghost Recon: Wildlands, Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate, Far Cry 5 and 6, Watch Dogs Legion) and the performance of Kay, played by Humberly Gonzalez.
The developers tried to explain that her appearance and physical features (broken nose and scars) were designed to visually convey “life experiences”, but this was not what players were concerned about.
Response criticism
Speaking to the Washington Post, creative director Julian Gerighty said he would not comment on player reactions:
“Such criticism is pointless, and this discussion is not worth paying attention to. If you respond to those who only pursue negativity, there will be no normal dialogue.”
It seemed that the players were starting to cool down under the developers’ subdued response, but Lucasfilm head Kathleen Kennedy entered the picture. In an interview with The New York Times , she declared that the Star Wars fandom is toxic because of “male domination.” While Kennedy answered the question about a film franchise, the Western gaming audience understood the answer in its own way.
Drop the content for $130 and 75k likes
In April, it became known that Ubisoft would sell part of the finished content (the mission with Jabba the Hutt) only in the Season Pass – in the Gold Edition for $ 109 (9,880 rubles) and the Ultimate Edition for $ 129 (11,700 rubles). While previously it was customary for the Season Pass to sell only future content and improvement items, this time the French decided to differentiate themselves, which caused a new wave of discontent.
As the release approached, journalists continued to share details and gameplay of the game, and the community continued to discover new flaws. For example, a month before the release, IGN published 10 minutes of gameplay, the video received over 75 thousand likes.
Players complained about poor graphics, rough optimization, and battles with basic artificial intelligence.
@FromTheAtticTV said:
“The game itself looks cool, but… doesn’t it look incredibly crude for something coming out in August?”
@shayshalevv added:
“So we’re going to ignore frame drops and San Andreas-style explosions?”
The comments were correct, but the criticism clearly exceeded the wave that the latest Ubisoft releases fell under – the audience was used to treating them with irony or indifference.
PR campaign
On July 22, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot announced that the company had spent a record amount of money on the Star Wars Outlaws advertising campaign. Coincidence or not, but after his words, the exciting comments about the game started to grow.
In addition, players began to be skeptical about the previews of journalists and bloggers, since Ubisoft organized a trip for them to Disneyland in Los Angeles at their own expense. Officially – to communicate with the development team and play the finished build, unofficially – to provide gifts and bright emotions for a higher appreciation of the game.
GmanLives praised the visuals, the in-depth elaboration of small details and the combat system in the preview. And between the lines he called the game a typical third-person action game with stealth elements. The only downside I mentioned was the hacking minigame, “which slows down the pace of the game.”
Edition
Today saw the official release of Star Wars Outlaws. During this day, users of premium editions on PS5 managed to accompany their opinion with another negative comment. This time, owners of the Gold and Ultimate editions got access to the game three days early, but to install the first day patch (1,000,002), Ubisoft asks to restart the game.
Have you bought the game yet?
The company did not give a reason, fortunately the players received at least some compensation: a cosmetic item for the ship and 100 points in the Ubisoft store (which can be obtained as you progress through different games).
As of August 30, Star Wars Outlaws has a score of 77 on both Metacritic and OpenCritic. 71% of critics recommend the game. In general, journalists agree with the first impression of the players: Outlaws has colorful graphics with colorful planets, well-developed assistants and an atmospheric open world. However, the impression is spoiled by a weak plot, monotonous stealth, an unfinished reputation system and a large number of technical problems.
What do you think of Star Wars Outlaws? If you’ve played it, what are your first impressions? Share your thoughts in the comments.
Source: VG Times
Christina Moncayo is a contributing writer for “Social Bites”. Her focus is on the gaming industry and she provides in-depth coverage of the latest news and trends in the world of gaming.