Ubisoft CEO defends Skull & Bones price tag as ‘AAAA’ game
The pricing of video games is a nightmare of a conversation to have. On one hand, the current structure of the industry is letting down its staff (the people making the games in the first place) and needs better financing, but a worldwide cost of living crisis has made buying video games harder to justify.
It won't stop gaming conglomerates from having the conversation without us, with companies being more than willing to crank the prices of their games to $70 without so much as a consultation with fans. Now, Ubisoft has thrown out a Hail Mary of defence for its pricing structure for Skull & Bones.
Ubisoft claims it has made the first 'AAAA game'
Click to enlargeIronically, it looks like Ubisoft is the real plunderer here. The controversial Skull & Bones is a swashbuckling adventure that many players theorised would never see the light of day. Now that it's finally making its launch, Skull & Bones is being met with horror and confusion when it comes to its price.
A $70 game that just came out of development hell? It's a tough sell for sure, and in order to soften its blow, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot has made a bold claim about the game in hopes of taking the sting out of its lofty pricing structure.
"You will see that Skull and Bones is a fully-fledged game," says Guillemot during a Q&A session conference call. "It’s a very big game, and we feel that people will really see how vast and complete that game is. It’s a really full, triple… quadruple-A game that will deliver in the long run." Eh?
What exactly is a AAAA game?
Click to enlargeThis is a pretty bold claim for Guillemot to make, and shocking that Ubisoft genuinely thinks it has created a game of such a size that it has earned its own category. It's especially prominent when the likes of Baldur's Gate 3 and GTA 6 are still considered AAA.
Guillemot doesn't offer much in the way of an explanation for the claim that Skull & Bones is AAAA, so we're just going to have to wait to see what he means when it finally sets sail. There are critiques that a free-to-play model would help boost the player count, but Ubisoft remains steadfast in its vision.
There are also critiques that Ubisoft's claim it created the first AAAA game will only lead to more infighting in the industry. One thing's for sure, and that's Skull & Bones is going to have to be a watertight game to justify the suggestion - otherwise, we'll have a sinking feeling.
