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“Some Ubisoft games” including Star Wars Outlaws are bugged on Windows 11 24H2 and will block your upgrade

...Or do, if you're not playing any of these games anyway
Last Updated on November 26, 2024
Star Wars Outlaws screenshot showing Kay Vess
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Windows updates are inevitable, for better or for worse, hopefully the former. In any case, Windows 11 recently got its 24H2 update which began rolling out to all users last month. One of the best things about the big update was a sweeping gaming performance boost for AMD Ryzen CPUs, but now Microsoft has detailed some known issues with 24H2.

If you’ve already updated to Windows 11 24H2, you may be affected by an ongoing issue that is affecting several Ubisoft games. For reference, Ubisoft is known for publishing a number of big franchises such as Assassins Creed, Far Cry, and Rayman.

Windows 11 24H2 is causing a few games to stop responding

According to the Microsoft website, as of November 2024, “Some Ubisoft games might stop responding on Windows 11, version 24H2 devices” and the status for this known issue is firmly set as “Confirmed” as of November 22nd. The report reveals that the game may become unresponsive while starting up, loading, or even during gameplay. The bug reportedly affects several Assassin’s Creed titles, as well as the (fairly) recently released Star Wars Outlaws, here’s the full list:

  • Assassin’s Creed Valhalla
  • Assassin’s Creed Origins
  • Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
  • Star Wars Outlaws
  • Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora
Star Wars Outlaws Pyke Syndicate, Image by PC Guide
Star Wars Outlaws Pyke Syndicate, Image by PC Guide

There’s a safeguard in place to stop you from updating, if you haven’t already

On a positive note, Microsoft has implemented a safeguard to reduce the number of users affected by this issue. It has “applied a compatibility hold on devices with these games installed,” essentially meaning devices that have any of the games listed above installed will not be automatically offered the 24H2 update. Microsoft also recommends you do not attempt to update manually.

Furthermore, Ubisoft has pushed a temporary hotfix for Star Wars Outlaws in the recent v1.4.1 update, though you may still experience some performance issues if you have already updated to 24H2. The official workaround if the game stops responding is to simply terminate it in Task Manager; not much of a workaround if you ask us, but it’s something.

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