‘Unpaid bug testers’: Star Wars Outlaws console players forced to delete saves, start over

Early access Star Wars Outlaws players have today been left in anguish after being forced to delete their save data, with the launch day patch not even giving them the choice to continue their adventure in a galaxy far, far away.

Massive just rolled out patch 1.000.002 of Star Wars Outlaws for maintenance, but it’s been causing issues for a plethora of PlayStation 5 gamers. Players who bought the Ultimate or Gold editions of the new Star Wars game had access up to 72 hours ahead of release. Now, unfortunately, the only way forward for early access players on PS5 who want to experience Star Wars Outlaws in its best state yet is to delete their save files and start over.

This issue appears to be console specific, with anyone on PlayStation impacted today. Early access players on other platforms have been documenting their playthrough without those problems, and the webpage addressing the problem states this is for “an outdated version on PS5.” On this page and in emails sent to players, the developers have already apologized for the inconvenience, while informing fans this is the only option. Gamers have, unsurprisingly, taken to social media to express frustration in response.

For many, this issue confirms judgments against early access as a whole. One gamer declared “this is what y’all get for being unpaid bug testers,” and many agree this is what it feels like to have to deal with these issues. Some Star Wars gamers added to the argument, stating this feels like paying just to be a group of bug testers.

Although there are plenty of Star Wars fans who were excited to get their hands on Outlaws, this experience is putting a damper on the affair. Some have decided that if this is the state the game’s in this close to release, they’ll just wait for a holiday sale. Others want to hold out until all the DLC has been added and most updates are rolled out.

Although Ubisoft has already acknowledged the Star Wars Outlaws issue on a troubleshooting page, it and Massive have not addressed the matter on social media. That may not be the case for long, as more players are beginning to directly call them on it. Star Wars Outlaws releases on August 30, and although this issue is supposedly fixed, some gamers have resolved to just wait a couple days instead of playing on launch.