Emperor Palpatine is in danger of getting the last laugh as Star Wars Outlaws finds itself facing a new controversy. If pre-release grumbles that the galaxy far, far away has gone 'woke' with Kay Vess leading the show wasn't enough, the Star Wars shooter is now being panned for a somewhat glitchy release.

While we could deal with a few teething problems, many early Star Wars Outlaws reviews have noticed that some pretty big game issues are getting in the way of this supposed love letter to George Lucas' world. Now Kay and Nix face a bigger problem than the warring cartels, as players are being asked to delete their save files.

Ubisoft asks PS5 players to delete their Outlaws save files

Not that PlayStation and Xbox owners needed another reason to draw their battle lines, but according to multiple reports, Ubisoft has been sending out emails to those playing on PS5 - asking them to delete their save files after hours of already exploring the Outer Rim. 

The email reads as follows: "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 the recent patch.

"We sincerely apologise 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."

It's apparently fallout from the Patch 1.000.002 update, with Ubisoft asking players to ensure they're playing the latest version of the game. Although some are chancing it and vow to keep playing, they're inevitably going to run into the issue and find themselves having to delete their saves. 

As you can imagine, the message hasn't gone down well with those who paid $100 to play the Outlaw's Gold Edition and enjoy the early access period before its full August 30 release. With no mention of compensation, you can imagine the atmosphere on the game's subreddit is icier than the surface of Hoth.

One angry gamer wrote, "I just got this email this morning, wish I knew that b4 I played 5 hours last night. Honestly this game is testing my patience." Another added, "Not even a mention of compensation since we paid for 3 day early access," and a third simply wrote, "Early access is a scam." 

Others pointed to Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League's botched release with server issues but how Warner Bros. at least gave those affected some in-game rewards. Someone else concluded, "Hell I'd take some in-game cosmetics or whatever, but literally nothing. I might just refund since my enthusiasm to play is gone."

While Xbox and PC players are safe (for now), we'll monitor the situation to see if Ubisoft says anything else. Still, as Outlaws charts uneven reviews and issues like this before it's even released to the public, the much-hyped Star Wars game could be in danger of being force-choked by negative publicity.