‘Star Wars Outlaws’ Creative Director Tries To Spin Disastrous Launch, Says “Millions Of People Are Going To Play For Years And Years” Following Improvements
In a declaration that comes across as a massive cope by any metric, following the disastrous launch of Star Wars Outlaws, the game’s creative director has claimed that supposedly forthcoming improvements will turn the title into one that “millions of people” will “play for years and years.”
As anyone who has either played the game for themselves or watched their favorite streamer take it for a spin can attest,Outlaws is less a finished title and more a slap-dash collection of playable game builds, its actual playable moments strung together with bug after annoying, even game-breaking bug.
And that last bit is not an exaggeration: In addition to its widely reported graphical and gameplay bugs (including one which causes protagonist Kay Vess’s character model to become unaligned from her speeder bike and another which causes the enemy AI to completely short circuit for absolutely no reason), PS5 players who began playing during the game’s early access period were forced to completely restart their saves after Ubisoft released a day one patch.
To this end, it should come as no surprise that in light of both these issues and audiences’ overall exhaustion with all things Disney Star Wars, Outlaws‘ initial reception has been rough, to say the least.
For proof, look no further than the fact that in their review of the game, even Kotaku could not ignore the fact that it is a technical disaster, with writer John Walker even observing “In 2024, we have reached the most deeply peculiar place, where AAA games are feats that humanity would once have recognized as literal wonders, and yet play with the same irritating issues and tedious repetition as we saw in the 90s. This contrast, this dissonance, is absolutely fascinating.”
Yet, despite its failings, Outlaws‘ creative director Julian Gerighty thinks that, with time and improvements, the game will become a bonified gaming classic.
“I’m a little disappointed with the Metacritic [where the game currently holds a 76/100 critic score an 5.4/10 user score]; recognition from critics is very important to us, but I do think players are really connecting with what we did,” the Ubisoft dev told Games Radar’s Josh West during a recent post-launch interview. “We had a very ambitious target, we literally reached for the stars, and I think we were successful from so many different angles. There’s a magical, unique experience within Outlaws, whether it’s Star Wars or not.”
“I think Outlaws has such long legs that this will be a game that millions of people are going to play for years and years, and we’re never going to stop improving it,” he then declared, before laughing, “Well, okay, that’s a lie, we’ll probably stop improving it eventually,but today my mind is not on stopping.”
Further pressed for his feelings about the game’s overall future, Gerighty added, “I’m feeling pretty good about it!”
“I’m still working on it, [game director Mathias Karlson] is still working on it – we’re pushing a lot of improvements,” he told West. “Not just on the base game, but it’s things that we’re going to deliver later this year and next with the downloadable episodes we’re creating. They are heavily themed, pushing a certain aspect of the game that we have even further.”
“There’s so much more for us to do there,” the creative director ultimately concluded. “We’ve got such a great system, there’s a great foundation. It’s not as easy as it looks, because everything is level designed and that’s a lot of work, but there’s so much we can do there. I’m still working on it, Mathias is still working on it – we’re pushing a lot of improvements. We just don’t want to let it go. They’re going to have to kick us out the door!”
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