Ubisoft's Star Wars Outlaws: A Closer Look at the Ambitious New Release Window

Introduction

With the new year having just begun, Ubisoft's ambitious new open world Star Wars Outlaws game momentarily receives a new release window. Eager fans awaiting Star Wars Outlaws now have a better idea for when they can expect the game to release this year.

star wars outlaws

Officially unveiled at Ubisoft's 2023 Summer Game Fest showcase, Star Wars Outlaws impressed fans with a lengthy gameplay trailer which displayed some of the game's third-person shooter combat and introduced Star Wars fans to protagonist Kay Vess and her fuzzy friend Nix. The trailer was stamped with a '2024' release window, leaving fans wondering about exactly when they'll be able to get their hands on this new Star Wars adventure. In the vast Star Wars timeline, Outlaws is wedged in between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, and will heavily feature some of the universe's most despicable crime organizations, including the infamous Jabba the Hutt.

star wars outlaws

Despite taking place during the original film trilogy, Star Wars Outlaws will interestingly offer new looks at some of the worlds introduced in the sequel films, such as The Last Jedi's Cantonica and the icy Kijimi, the frozen world briefly traveled to in the opening moments of 2019's The Rise of Skywalker film. Perhaps the most impressive and ambitious aspect of Star Wars Outlaws that's been shown off is its ability to let players seamlessly travel from these planets into space without the use of traditional loading screens.

star wars outlaws

Revised Release Window

Just two days into 2024, Disney Parks Blog has unintentionally spilled the beans on a more refined 2024 release window for Star Wars Outlaws. In a blog post highlighting 24 things Disney fans can expect throughout the year, Disney made mention of Ubisoft's upcoming Star Wars Outlaws, noting that it'll be ready to release 'late this year.' This phrasing seems to indicate the game may be planning to launch sometime in the last four-or-so months of 2024, as alternatively using 'later this year' could still mean spring or summer. However, the wording has since been reverted to 'release in 2024.'

It seems that despite this blog revision, Disney and Ubisoft are likely still internally planning Outlaws' launch for late 2024. As the new year is just freshly underway, only two games have stamped solid release dates for the second half of the year. The ambitious Chinese Soulslike Black Myth: Wukong has claimed August 20, while Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 is landing on September 9. Q4 2024 is currently untouched, and Star Wars Outlaws seems like a perfect title fit for the Fall or Holiday release window. With that said, an October or November launch would make perfect sense for Kay Vess' journey through Star Wars' criminal underworld.

Summer Game Fest and Future Reveals

While Star Wars Outlaws already seems to have large swaths of the fandom captivated, there's still much more to see and learn about the game before it's ready to finally roll out. As Summer Game Fest has recently been confirmed for 2024, it would seem like the most optimal place for Ubisoft to show off more of its ambitious Star Wars title, and potentially confirm a release date.