Ubisoft has sparked a debate after announcing Star Wars Outlaws’ expensive gold and ultimate editions, which offer early access and a season pass, among other things.
The $109.99 gold edition and even more expensive $129.99 are being criticized by some not just for costing much more, but for what they include. The Gold Edition includes the base game, as you’d expect, the Season Pass, and three days early access with a pre-order. The Ultimate Edition includes all that and two cosmetic bundles (the Sabacc Shark bundle and the Rogue Infiltrator bundle), and a digital art book. The Season Pass adds two post-launch story expansions, the exclusive Jabba’s Gambit mission at launch, and the Kessel Runner character cosmetic pack.
It’s worth noting that Star Wars Outlaws is a single-player only game, which has caused some to question the need for a season pass at all (by using the word "season" Ubisoft suggests there will be more than one). It’s also worth pointing out that the base game costs $70 on console, which means Ubisoft values the season pass and early access at $40, and the cosmetics and digital art book at $20. Ubisoft has yet to detail the two post-launch DLCs included in the season pass.
Some players are now expressing disappointment in how Star Wars Outlaws is being sold, lamenting the current triple-A trend of charging fans more to play games ahead of their "release date" as well as locking single-player missions behind a season pass. “Star Wars Outlaws will cost up to $130 U.S. on release and has pre-order bonuses, a season pass, and three price levels,” said disgruntled redditor Ketsukoni. “I'm trying to see the positive in this one.”
There are now people saying they plan to wait for a post-launch sale before picking up Star Wars Outlaws. “It’s a single-player game,” added jbm1518. “Wait a year to buy it and you’ll save money, have DLC already available, and have a more polished experience.”
Anytime I see charts like these it just makes me think: “I can’t wait to buy the full game for $20 years later.” pic.twitter.com/BN4RJV7ZGu
— Angel 🎮 RPG Addict (@Helexzura) April 9, 2024
The Star Wars Outlaws Ultimate Edition price matches the equivalent edition of Ubisoft’s recently released Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, which was itself a price hike compared to the ultimate editions of the likes of The Crew Motorfest and Skull and Bones. When it comes to Ubisoft ultimate editions, we’re firmly in $130 territory now, it seems.
Star Wars Outlaws finally gave fans a clearer look at its narrative in a story trailer that was released this week. It gave us an early look at leads Kay Vess and Nix and the crew they hope to assemble while also revealing more from some familiar faces. Most importantly, though, the video finally revealed a release date. Star Wars Outlaws launches for PC via Ubisoft Connect, the Epic Games Store, and Amazon Luna, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X and S on August 30, 2024.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].