Ubisoft chief executive Yves Guillemot has hit back at growing concerns around Skull and Bones‘ hefty price tag and its live-service model in the company’s latest conference call, promising the long-awaited pirate title will definitely “deliver in the long run.”
Guillemot fielded several questions on Skull and Bones and its early release during Ubisoft’s Feb. 8 call, and after hearing about players’ concerns, dubbed the game “quadruple-A.” Considering Ubisoft allegedly spent over $200 million on the project, it might as well be, and Guillemot confidently claimed that players will recognize “how vast and complete” Skull and Bones is. The executive finished by promising Skull and Bones would “deliver in the long run”—a claim seemingly backed up by the company already sharing its 2024 plans for the new sea-venturing title, which includes at least four major content updates.
Reactions to Guillemot’s comments have been less than stellar. On Reddit alone, numerous threads cropped up with thousands criticizing the executive and Skull and Bones. “When I played on the test server, it sure as hell didn’t feel like a quadruple-A game,” one user wrote, while another called the game soulless, “like all Ubisoft titles these days.” The game didn’t escape the ire of content creators either, with YouTuber ManyATrueNerd calling the quadruple-A label “such an awful expression” and suggesting all gamers are morally compelled to make Skull and Bones fail. Not so-warm-a-welcome for a game a decade in the making.
Ubisoft has devoted its plans to the live-service model quite a lot recently, keeping flagship release Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla updated for several years after launch. Without a traditional singleplayer campaign, Skull and Bones will probably go down a similar, if not expanded, route. That said, judging from early reactions during the demo (from players and creators alike), the future looks grim for Ubisoft’s swashbuckling adventure.
Skull and Bones launches worldwide on Friday, Feb. 16.
