(News Bulletin 247) – The video game publisher’s stock is struggling on the stock market, suffering from a downgrade of opinion from Exane BNP Paribas, which downgraded its opinion to neutral on the file. Investors are also worried about the sluggish start to sales of Star Wars Outlaws, one of the two big blockbusters in Ubisoft’s current financial year.

Ubisoft fell on the Paris Stock Exchange for the fifth consecutive session on Wednesday, with investors concerned about the poor performance of the latest title launched by the video game publisher.

Ubisoft shares fell by 4%, while the SBF 120 rose by 0.26% at the same time.

The stock has lost about 20% of its value since the release of the game “Star Wars Outlaws” on August 30, which was deemed disappointing by players.

This title offers to embody an outlaw who looks like a female Han Solo. The heroine will chain together missions in an open world taking as its setting the universe of Star Wars. Some great characters of the saga, like Jabba the Hutt, seem to be part of it.

Skeptical analysts

Exane BNP Paribas downgraded its recommendation on the stock to “neutral”, citing the game’s weaker-than-expected sales and lowering its sales projections.

The broker adds that the year 2025 appears increasingly competitive for the sector, with many highly anticipated titles set to be released next year, including “GTA VI” published by the Take-Two Interactive group.

Exane BNP Paribas expects the group’s cash flow to only become positive again from fiscal year 2027, compared to 2025 previously, and points out that Ubisoft will have to refinance €1.3 billion of debt by 2027, on terms that could prove less favorable.

Morgan Stanley, for its part, is wondering how Ubisoft could improve its results without successful new product launches.

(With Reuters)