Ubisoft Needs To Focus Less On the Talk Surrounding Skull & Bones And More On Its Direction
So, in case you missed the news, Ubisoft is finally releasing Skull & Bones this week. No, you’re not seeing things. It’s a Duke Nukem Forever moment.
The game actually began development back in 2013, but wouldn’t be publicly announced until the debut of a trailer at E3 2017. And, from there, you can pretty much guess the rest. Delays, development shifts, you name it.
Then, out of the blue last year, Ubisoft confirmed that the game would finally be ready later in 2023. Until it wasn’t and got delayed to, well, this week.
Ubisoft did just host an open beta weekend event that was pretty lively, to say the least. And it gave people a taste of what’s to come with the game’s launch in just a few days. But, to some, there’s already a sour taste building up.
That’s because, instead of hyping the game as they normally should, Ubisoft spent a good deal of time justifying Skull & Bones’ high $70 price tag.
CEO Yves Guillemot noted, “You will see that Skull &Bones is a fully-fledged game. 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.”
And this is where danger starts to lurk. People have been running wild with Guillemot’s “quadruple-A game statement,” as well as its high price tag. In fact, some walked away from the beta this weekend feeling that the game was rather “meh,” instead of the exciting affair that, well, previous games from Ubisoft has been. (Like that super rad Prince of Persia game.)
This is the latest example of how companies are trying to work their way around drama in an effort to make their game shine. But instead of letting the game speak for itself, they instead seem to be providing excuses.
We saw this previously with Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, with the developers insisting that the endgame would be huge. That is, if anyone were to stick around to watch it. That doesn’t appear to be the case, as people are leaving the heavily priced live-service game behind for…Batman Arkham Knight? Hey, that was a fine game (well, maybe not on the Switch).
I dunno what it is. There is a way to ride out the storm and not let the controversy take over — just let the game speak merits, and let the players talk about it. Then, if indications that something up do arise, don’t try to justify the value, and instead work on said issues so that it lives up to said value.
We’ve seen examples of this that have worked pretty well. For instance, Hogwarts Legacy was waist deep in controversy, with many calling for the game to be “blacklisted” due to the involvement of J.K. Rowling (well, with licensing, at best). And what happened? The developers stayed mum and just kept making the game better, and it went on to sell, what, 22 million copies? And still rising.
Not to mention Cyberpunk 2077. What started as a disastrous launch had CD Projekt Red reeling. But instead of simply complaining that the game is worth it, they buckled down and made the game worth it, eventually squashing all the bugs and delivering what would become a hell of a turnaround.
See, I’m not saying Skull & Bones is a bad game. I played some of the beta and it’s not bad if you’re into pirating. But to see more notes about the controversy surrounding it than the game itself? That’s not good. Sometimes you just need to settle in and show why a game is worth something, instead of boasting that it is. Remember, “actions speak louder than words.”
As for Justice League, well, I’ve already discussed what was wrong with that. And I’m sure Rocksteady has an endgame plan with more content. But, for now, it’s just hard to justify a buy. I’ve already explained why, but…yeah. They just need to show why the game is worth it instead of just yelling, “Aw, come on, try it!”
Drama just isn’t worth it. It isn’t. There’s enough of that and people come to video games to escape said drama, not add to it.
If you do go sailing with Skull & Bones, let me know how it is. I’ll be knee deep in Tomb Raider Remastered and Lords of Exile, but who knows, if it ends up being bigger than its drama, I might give it a shot.
Now if we could just get Beyond Good & Evil 2 back on the board.
Have a great week, everyone!
