Early Star Wars Outlaws PS5 players paid $110 only to have Ubisoft issue a new patch and tell them to start a new save file or face game-breaking bugs

Update: A Ubisoft representative provided the following comment:

"On August 27, our teams identified an issue where some PS5 players were playing on a previous version of the game. We quickly deployed an update and informed affected players to ensure their game was updated to the latest version (1.000.002) and advised that they begin a new save to avoid additional issues and progression blockers. We've followed up with affected PS5 players today to inform them we have provided them an in-game Trailblazer trinket as well as 100 Ubisoft Connect Units (to redeem for in-game rewards, for example) to make their return to the Outer Rim a little more special."

Original story: Star Wars Outlaws is now available for players who spent the extra cash for a fancy edition with early access, but the most eager of those players on PS5 are facing the threat of game-breaking progression issues following a patch that rolled out shortly after launch.

The official release date of Star Wars Outlaws is August 30, but if you spend $110 USD on the Gold Edition or $130 on the Ultimate Edition, you get three days of early access. On PS5, early access began at midnight the morning of August 27 in your local time zone, and player reports suggest that a patch updating the game to version 1.000.002 rolled out a few hours after that launch.

PS5 players who started their games in that window between the early access launch and the release of the patch are now facing the potential of game-breaking bugs. "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," Ubisoft said in an email to affected players that's now making the rounds on Reddit.

Ubisoft isn't specific about the exact nature of these bugs, but says once the patch is installed, you should "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." Reports from players suggest that the bug will have you stuck in space, unable to land on-planet again. This apparently occurs after the False Flag mission that first sends you to space.

I've reached out to Ubisoft for additional information, and will update this story if I learn more.

Again, the bug only seems to affect PS5 players, and only if you started a game before the 1.000.002 patch was issued. Eurogamer reports that one of its reviewers was already on the 1.000.002 patch a few days before launch, so it's unclear why that update had not yet rolled out to all players.

Either way, it's an immensely frustrating situation for early access players. Those are the fans eager enough to pay over $100 to get in early and start playing at midnight, only to be stuck with the message 'sorry, but you gotta start over.' I'm sure there's some serious technical issue at play here or the devs wouldn't be launching the nuclear option, but that's a rough ask of the players who were most invested in the game.

Check out all the upcoming Star Wars games, or dig into our Star Wars Outlaws review, which calls it "An exceedingly fun Star Wars game that's hindered by poor stealth systems."