Ubisoft’s ‘AAAA’ claims fall apart as Skull & Bones price crashes
Ah, Skull & Bones. The game that managed to stoke dramas that feel old already. At the end of the day, Ubisoft made promises with Skull & Bones it simply couldn't keep. It promised a swashbuckling adventure we'd never had before, but we had in both Sea of Thieves and Ubisoft's own Assassin's Creed: Black Flag.
Ubisoft also promised an experience so premium that it breaches our industry's understanding of prestige as the first-ever AAAA game. Instead, the pirate adventure is buggy and bland enough that players are already leaving in their droves. Skull & Bones' waters have been choppy, and now, it looks like Ubisoft is starting to see it.
Skull & Bones get a massive discount
Click to enlargeIt looks as though the AAAA pricing bracket that Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot was confident in isn't serving Skull & Bones in the way the company had hoped. The cost of the game has suffered significantly since its launch - a mere three weeks ago.
Best Buy is already flogging Skull & Bones for $44.99 on both PS5 and Xbox Series X, and UK retailer Hit is selling it for £49.85 - although the Best Buy price has mysteriously climbed again. This comes after Ubisoft offered players an eight-hour trial of the game, so that they can give it a try before dedicating to its elevated cost.
Guillemot made a point of pushing Skull & Bones for a substantial $70, asserting in the now-infamous statement that, "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."
What is Skull & Bones' playerbase looking like?
Click to enlargeUbisoft is yet to share its active player numbers for Skull & Bones, but as reported back in February, it was certainly off to a good start. Insider Gaming claimed that the nautical adventure had breached 850,000 lifetime players just over a week after the game had officially launched.
It seems like a strong number for Ubisoft, but as the player number includes those engaged in the title's free trial with no word on if they jumped ship afterwards (pun very much intended), that may not reflect in game sales or even concurrent players.
Ubisoft is keeping the industry in the dark about the successes of Skull & Bones by cherrypicking the milestones worth sharing, and for now, we simply don't know what's next for the game. All we know is that it's cheaper right now. AAAA be damned.
