Ubisoft Gives Annoyed Star Wars Outlaws Players Who Paid to Play Early but Lost All Progress a Trinket and Some Loyalty Points No-One Wants

Following this week’s Star Wars Outlaws update that forced some early access players to restart the game, Ubisoft has offered a make-good: an in-game trinket and some loyalty points.

In the wake of releasing Star Wars Outlaws patch 1.000.002, Ubisoft warned PlayStation 5 players that they might have encountered issues with their current save if they were playing on the older version of the game. The solution: start a new save.

Here’s Ubisoft’s initial message:

To best experience the Outer Rim, we rolled out a maintenance to make sure everyone is playing the latest version of the game. As one of the players affected who had access to an older version of the game, we are aware you might be encountering some issues after this recent patch. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused…Once you’ve confirmed you have the latest version, please start a new save to fully enjoy Star Wars Outlaws as our team intended. If you continue on a prior save you will unfortunately face issues and progression blockers.

Players complained that they were forced into losing hours of progress through no fault of their own, a loss made all the worse by the fact that it occurred during Star Wars Outlaws’ early access period, which was reserved for those who paid more than $100 for the Gold Edition.

Now, Ubisoft has offered a make-good to affected players: an in-game Trailblazer trinket and 100 Ubisoft Connect Units. These units are Ubisoft Connect loyalty points, which can be used on in-game rewards and Ubisoft Store discounts.

Here’s Ubisoft’s latest message, sent to affected players via email:

We are following up on the previous email we sent you regarding “Issues with an outdated version on PlayStation 5”.

We fully acknowledge that asking you to start a new game is not the best experience, especially during the early access period, and for that we apologize.
To make your return to the Outer Rim a little more special, we are granting you an in-game Trailblazer trinket as well as 100 Ubisoft Connect Units (to redeem for in-game rewards, for example). We are actively working on adding the Ubisoft Connect Units to your account so you can use these as soon as possible, and you can collect the Trinket from the delivery crate in the back of the Trailblazer once you reach Toshara.
We appreciate your patience, and we hope you enjoy the game.

These units are already being called “worthless” by some disgruntled players. “I lost 15 hours of progress,” said redditor 00schneider. “Well, I explored a lot so I took my time. Today I was forced to start all over and I rushed in ~6 hours to nearly the state I was before. Yes, it sucks that they couldn’t just release a hotfix. Yes, the compensation for it is laughable. At least they could’ve given us some materials to upgrade our vehicles and the blaster a little faster. But the game is still fun and I hope no other game breaking bugs appear.”

Others who have yet to run into any issues are now worried about losing their progress if they update the game. “I’ve just seen the email tonight,” redditor Flash__PuP said. “I’m 20hrs in with three maxed out experts and max affinity with Pyles and all others at good standing. This makes me just want to pack it in.”

The good news is that Patch 1.000.002 sounds like a big upgrade for Star Wars Outlaws, enhancing the visual fidelity on PS5 while addressing some of the issues we alluded to in our review. The 40fps support is an especially big deal, as it enhances Star Wars Outlaw’s visual fidelity without sacrificing too much of the fluidity from a higher frame-rate.

Star Wars Outlaws launches proper across PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X and S on August 30. In the meantime, if you’re planning on picking up Star Wars Outlaws, we have plenty of guides to help you explore Ubisoft’s version of a galaxy far, far away, including our walkthrough, sidequests, and more.

Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.