According to Insider Gaming’s Tom Henderson, a Star Wars Outlaws sequel was canceled very shortly in the development process. Speaking on their weekly podcast, Henderson says that “Star Wars Outlaws 2” was still in pre-production, so it would have been a very, very long time before we heard any official word about the game if it had gone forward.
Why was the Star Wars Outlaws Sequel Canceled?
Star Wars Outlaws released last year, and, like many other Ubisoft projects outside of Assassin’s Creed lately, disappointed in its returns. According to CEO Yves Guillemot, this lack of sales had more to do with the Star Wars franchise being in “choppy waters” as of late, though reviews for the game from many outlets found the game to be a little divisive, with the aggregate sites placing scores for the game at an average of about 70.
Given that the company’s CEO seems to be out on Star Wars at the moment, and the not great sales for the original game, it’s not that surprising that a Star Wars Outlaws sequel was canceled. In fact, we are kind of more surprised that the plan even started to take off. Ubisoft is in likely its most precarious spot in the history of the company. There are constant talks of it merging with Tencent in some way, with other talks of selling off various IP, and frankly, no one really knows for sure what the future holds for it.
So, what is next for Massive Entertainment, the development team of Star Wars Outlaws? As of this writing, it is known that the team is leading the development on Tom Clancy’s The Division 3. That is unsurprising given how much they have put into the series in the last decade, and with The Division Heartland being canceled last year, Ubisoft still will wants that series to grow. Of course, there is always the potential for the team to focus on Far Cry or Assassin’s Creed projects, but The Division is their baby, and it’s hard to see them moving outside of that for the immediate future.
As for the future of Star Wars games, Ubisoft isn’t likely to dip in those waters for a while if Guillemot’s comments are any indication. You can still expect Respawn to make a new Jedi game, and Star Wars Zero Company is an upcoming strategy game set in the galaxy far, far away.
