Star Wars Outlaws director explains how the gameplay feeds into the "scoundrel fantasy"

Star Wars Outlaws looks to be on track for an Xbox Series X|S launch in 2024, and the Disneyworld blog may have given us a release window.

Tom West

Published 03 Jan 2024

If you're looking forward to rubbing shoulders with the criminal underworld in Star Wars Outlaws, worry not, as it looks like Ubisoft's open-word third-person shooter is still on track for an Xbox Series X|S launch in 2024.

A recent post on Disneyworld's Disney Parks Blog gave us some expected insight into the updates heading to the company's various attractions this year, but also included an entry about Star Wars Outlaws. According to the initial blog post, Outlaws is down for a "late 2024" launch, but the blog has now been re-edited to give the game a generic 2024 release window. Following the blunder, Ubisoft told IGN that the late 2024 release window wasn't "correct".

With Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora having only launched in December, a late 2024 launch for Star Wars Outlaws would make sense, as it'll give Ubisoft's recent open-world single-player game some breathing room before it drops another title from a blockbuster franchise.

Adding to everything we know about Star Wars Outlaws, a recent Kotaku interview with narrative director Navid Khavari dived into the gameplay loop we can expect with Kay, which is split into three experiences.

“The first of these is dense cities bustling with activity and lively cantinas where you might find criminal syndicates and corrupt Imperials mingling together," Khavari said. "Second is our vast, mysterious, and stunning open environments…whether on foot or Kay’s speeder. And finally, space, which players can explore on Kay’s ship.”

Much like Bethesda's Starfield last year, Star Wars Outlaws will have a large focus on interstellar travel, including space combat. “One of the core parts of the scoundrel fantasy is having your own ship and that essentially being your home. Outlaws are traveling constantly and need to be on the move all the time — that’s no different for Kay. You’ll be able to go from on foot, to speeder, to your ship and easily jump between planets,” Khavari said.

The hope with Star Wars Outlaws is to allow you to "indulge in some intergalactic tourism," but Khavari says the team at Massive Entertainment is also "really excited for them to experience new characters and planets in this iconic era as well."

Khavari later said: “Space represents a super lucrative yet very risky experience for any outlaw … If you go off the beaten path, your willingness to explore will bring surprises as well. So you can go from taking on a contract to steal an Imperial shipment, but then get distracted on your speeder and head off into the Toshara savannah in search of an artifact, and the game will reward your curiosity.”

As the leader of the Hutts, we'll meet the infamous Jabba, choosing to work for him or undercut him for our own profit, but he'll not be the only familiar face we'll see. While Outlaws tells its own story away from the lightsaber-wielding Jedi and Sith heroes and villains, we'll apparently have a chance to spot various references to other Star Wars favorites.

“We can’t wait for players to explore the world of Outlaws and discover any references to the wider Star Wars galaxy for themselves," Khavari teased.

Star Wars Outlaws launches on Xbox Series X|S later this year, but if you're looking to dive into an open-world adventure now, check out our Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora review to see if the game is for you.

Xbox Series X|S

Written by Tom West

Tom has been playing video games since he was old enough to hold a controller, experimenting with a number of systems until he eventually fell in love with Xbox. With a passion for the platform, he decided to make a career out of it, and now happily spends his days writing about that which he loves. If he’s not hunting for Xbox achievements, you’ll likely find him somewhere in The Elder Scrolls Online or fighting for survival in Battlefield.