MMoexp:Skull and Bones Faces Uphill Battle as a Live-Service Game
The gaming industry has learned over the past decade that developing and sustaining successful live-service games is an immense challenge. While titles like Fortnite and Skull and Bones Items PUBG have found tremendous popularity in the live-service model, many attempts by other publishers to replicate that success have fallen short. Creating a live-service game that maintains engaging gameplay, rewarding progression systems, and a compelling ongoing narrative is an elusive feat that few have mastered.
Ubisoft's piracy-themed action-adventure game, Skull and Bones, appears to be facing these difficulties head-on. After nearly a decade in development and multiple reworks, Skull and Bones finally launched in February 2023 to a lukewarm critical reception, earning a Metacritic score of 59.
According to reports, the game had only around 850,000 players across all platforms in its first week, which is considered a relatively low player count for a Ubisoft release, especially for the company's self-described "AAAA" title. Notably, this figure includes players taking advantage of the game's free trial, suggesting the actual paid player base may be even smaller.
Ubisoft has not provided any official updates on buy Skull and Bones Silver player numbers or commercial performance.