Star Wars Outlaws is coming to Switch 2 in just a few days. It’s Ubisoft’s first big port for Nintendo’s new handheld hybrid. So why isn’t the company talking more about its 2024 blockbuster coming to the best-selling console of 2025? Maybe because it’s the latest Switch 2 port to reportedly run less than great.
Star Wars Outlaws, a stealth adventure about gangsters and bounty hunters on the fringes of the Galactic Empire, is currently the 10th best-selling game on the Switch 2 eShop thanks to digital pre-orders, but you won’t find it anywhere on the show floor at PAX West this weekend. Despite stations for fans to try big ports like Elden Ring and Borderlands 4 on Nintendo’s new hardware, a demo of Star Wars Outlaws was only playable behind closed doors, according to YouTube channel GVG‘s new hands-on video.
Even worse, the outlet was prohibited from sharing any direct capture footage of Star Wars Outlaws running on Switch 2. Over-the-shoulder recording wasn’t allowed either. The demo GVG tested included an early section inside of a Star Destroyer and a ship fight in space. The frame rate often appeared to dip below 30fps while the visual quality varied from good to unimpressive depending on the scene. And GVG didn’t even get to try any of the open-world sections down on planets.
There have been some potential red flags around Star Wars Outlaws‘ performance on Switch 2 for a while now. At a Partner Nintendo Direct earlier this summer, Ubisoft only showcased the game for two minutes, and most of that was developers (Ubisoft Red Lynx is doing the port) talking into the camera rather than direct feed of gameplay. What little snippets the publisher did share didn’t look outstanding either. Digital Foundry pointed to some impressive lighting effects at the time, but was left mostly with concerns about just how downgraded it would be from the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S versions.
How will Assassin’s Creed Shadows run on Switch 2?
While not officially confirmed, reading between the lines of recent Ubisoft earnings calls leaves the strong impression that Star Wars Outlaws isn’t the only current-gen exclusive the company is planning to port to Switch 2. Assassin’s Creed Shadows sounds destined to arrive eventually as well. Has Ubisoft been investing more resources in optimizing that port, knowing it’s the bigger franchise, at the cost of quietly leaving Outlaws to flounder a second time (remember, Shadows was originally delayed precisely because of Outlaws launch struggles last year)?
Right now, there are basically two buckets of third-party Switch 2 ports. One includes Cyberpunk 2077 and Street Fighter 6, which rarely remind you that you’re playing on weaker hardware than what the games were originally designed for. The other includes stuff like Hitman World of Assassination, which despite being serviceable, often feels like a noticeable downgrade (though things improved just this week with a capped frame rate option).
Elden Ring, which reportedly ran like goop when you hit the open-world sections, and now Star Wars Outlaws appear to be in that second bucket as well. Bandai Namco tried to prevent people from filming footage of FromSoftware’s first Switch 2 game at Gamescom 2025 as well, though that game at least doesn’t have a release date yet. Unless a day-one patch or series of other upgrades can improve Outlaws on Switch 2, there’s now a question of whether a potential Shadows port will fall into the “meh” column of ports as well.
Update 9/1/2025 11:11 a.m. ET: 40-minutes of footage of Star Wars Outlaws running on Switch 2 in docked mode has seemingly leaked ahead of launch. What’s shown looks decent enough compared to what was described of the PAX West demo running in handheld mode:
Ethan Gach
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