Star Wars Outlaws’ “biggest update yet” detailed as new creative director comes onboard

Ubisoft has detailed Star Wars Outlaws‘ “biggest update yet” ahead of its arrival later this month, sharing the news in its first developer blog since creative director Julian Gerighty’s departure to focus on The Division brand, including The Division 3.

Gerighty confirmed he’d soon be handing over the Star Wars Outlaws reigns in an interview with GamesRadar last month, explaining, “It’s been announced that I’m executive producer on The Division, so these are my last weeks [on Outlaws]”. And now, new creative director Drew Rechner has provided a look ahead to Star Wars Outlaws’ future.

“There are three key areas in which we’re looking to improve the game even further,” he explained in a new developer post. “That starts with combat, where Rechner sees a “real opportunity to add more depth and excitement…further rewarding your tactics and precision.” Stealth, meanwhile, will see improvements to “readability and consistency of enemy detection” while also “providing choice in how you want to approach each encounter.”

Massive’s final target is character controls, with the studio looking to improve “the reliability of cover… the responsiveness of climbing and crouching [and] the consistency of the controls overall.” Rechner says Massive will share specific details about its planned changes in the “upcoming weeks” ahead of Title Update 1.4 release on 21st November.

That’s the same day Star Wars Outlaws comes to Steam (Ubisoft will, of course, be bringing all its new titles to Valve’s platform on launch day starting February next year), and the same day the game’s first story expansion, Wild Card, releases.

Star Wars Outlaws’ 1.4 update marks the latest in a series of patches designed to “polish and improve the player experience” following Ubisoft admission earlier this year that sales had been “softer than expected”. At the time, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said the development team was “fully mobilised” to update the game “in order to engage a large audience during the holiday season [and] position [the game] as a strong long-term performer”.