Current Events > Skull & Bones looking like an even bigger bomb than Forspoken; prob all 2023

(+) Yeah! (+)

Closed beta reports from playtesters (some anonymously breaking NDA) claiming it has insane slow grind progression (start as loser fisherman fighting stupid low XP enemies for about 30hrs until you even acquire a pirate ship), est 20mins of sailing oceans with no fast travel, heavy microtransactions + battlepass system and premium digital currencies.

And the last delay caused Sony to refund every preorder and to take down all options to even buy the game lol.

Ubisoft's survival as a functioning company is apparently extremely dependent on this game so this is gonna be a fun show.

sounds absolutely horrendous holy shit rofl

Fun fact, the game is legally obligated to come out because of a lawsuit by the Singapore government. So they're just doing the bare minimum to get by

Damn sounds like Xenoblade Chronicles X

Jagr_68 posted...

Ubisoft's survival as a functioning company is apparently extremely dependent on this game so this is gonna be a fun show.

Can't wait for daddy Microsoft to buy them.

Jagr_68 posted...

Ubisoft's survival as a functioning company is apparently extremely dependent on this game

why is that

specialkid8 posted...

Can't wait for daddy Microsoft to buy them.

Considering Ubisoft spent over $120 million on this shit, their buyout value by then would be pennies to M$.

refmon posted...

why is that

Their shareholders are royally pissed off that they cancelled 2 games and kept S&B alive while also losing money each year, which could lead to a takeover of some kind.

NeonTentacles posted...

Fun fact, the game is legally obligated to come out because of a lawsuit by the Singapore government. So they're just doing the bare minimum to get by

Like to that, please. lol

Jagr_68 posted...

Ubisoft

yeah it will be shit

Bandit_Keith posted...

Like to that, please. lol

I'm gonna assume you said link to that lol

https://www.thegamer.com/skull-and-bones-progress/
https://geekculture.co/report-says-ubisoft-has-to-complete-skull-bones-due-to-agreement-with-singapore-government/

How did Ubisoft get themselves into a legally-binding contract with the Singaporean government over a fucking video game?

Solar_Crimson posted...

How did Ubisoft get themselves into a legally-binding contract with the Singaporean government over a fucking video game?

I have no clue but it's fucking hilarious lol

Skull & Bomba.

never even heard of this game before

NeonTentacles posted...

I have no clue but it's fucking hilarious lol

It's historic.

In the future, there will be song.

People will Singapore Ubisoft

Wasn't there some WoW competitior last year that banked on Blizzards f ups

Pacing has been a problem with Ubisoft games since forever. They don't seem to listen to feedback. Instead they just draw out their games more and more

Doesn't make sense how they could drop the ball this bad when Assassin's Creed 4 was awesome, and Rogue was basically just a re-skin of that with a different plot and slightly different mechanics.

Doesnt Ubisoft have ass creed? They should be fine

*ubisoft dies*

*pours one out to Sing*

Kotaku did an in-depth article about the complete mess this game was back in 2021!

https://kotaku.com/first-it-was-an-assassins-creed-expansion-now-its-ubis-1847326742

The game made a big splash with an on-stage reveal and hands-on demo at E3 2017, and returned a year later with a second polished demo, but has since disappeared. Sources are split over what happened. Some say despite the well received E3 blowouts the game effectively didnt exist. Others argue that a version of what was playable at industry events could have launched roughly on time in Early Access and matured in the wild as other games-as-a-service have.
Years later the game is still struggling to take shape and people are running on empty.
A lot of stuff still doesnt make sense, said one former developer. Just polishing it at this point would be a waste of time.

Skull & Bones was originally supposed to launch in late 2018. Then sometime in 2019. Then sometime after March 2020. Then sometime before March 2022. And now its due to come out before March 2023.

Nearly eight years after it was first conceived, Skull & Bones has blown through its initial budgets. According to three sources, the project has already cost Ubisoft more than $120 million, with that number continuing to balloon as hundreds of developers from other Ubisoft studios continue pitching in to try to ship the game without any more delays.
Ubisoft developers receive project-based bonuses based on how well their games do. Those attached to big, nearly annual franchises like Assassins Creed are often assured healthy payouts. But Skull & Bones was so in the hole, sources told Kotaku, that the project had to undergo a financial write-off internally for its developers to still have a shot at any sort of payout.
No one wants to admit they fucked up, said one developer. Its too big to fail, just like the banks in the U.S.
If Skull & Bones were at a competitor it would have been killed 10 times already, said one former developer.

ore generously, another former developer said that Electronic Arts or Take-Two for example probably wouldnt have attempted it in the first place. Eitherway, Ubisoft has bet big on the multiplayer pirate adventure and is determined to ship it one way or another. In part, thats because live service games have become an increasingly important and lucrative part of the Assassins Creed publishers portfolio. But three sources also told Kotaku that a deal with the Singapore government requires it. In addition to hiring a certain number of people at its Singapore studio in exchange for generous subsidies, they said, Ubisoft Singapore must also launch original brand new IPs in the next few years.

Jagr_68 posted...

claiming it has insane slow grind progression (start as loser fisherman fighting stupid low XP enemies for about 30hrs until you even acquire a pirate ship), est 20mins of sailing oceans with no fast travel,

Do they have some of the same devs that developed Atlas (or whatever that pirate game that was made by the creators of Ark was called)? Because that sounds alike the same game lol.

They already have the mechanics of a great pirate game thanks to Black Flag.

But Ubi are always gonna Ubi, and it sounds like they're Ubiing harder than ever before.

RIP Ubisoft.

DrizztLink posted...

It's historic.

In the future, there will be song.

People will Singapore Ubisoft

*Sensiblechucle

I got invited to that closed beta but didn't bother accepting. Sounds like I made the right choice.

TendoDRM posted...

I got invited to that closed beta but didn't bother accepting. Sounds like I made the right choice.

Too bad. Your suffering would've made a pretty good topic.

NeonTentacles posted...

I'm gonna assume you said link to that lol

https://www.thegamer.com/skull-and-bones-progress/
https://geekculture.co/report-says-ubisoft-has-to-complete-skull-bones-due-to-agreement-with-singapore-government/

That reminds me of when Rhode Island became owner of a game studio because Curt Schilling fucked up a deal with them for Kingdoms of Amalur.

specialkid8 posted...

That reminds me of when Rhode Island became owner of a game studio because Curt Schilling fucked up a deal with them for Kingdoms of Amalur.

It's kinda similar yeah.

Irony posted...

Damn sounds like Xenoblade Chronicles X

What how? Xenoblade X had none of dat

I've watched some early gameplay videos, seems like it'll get old fast unless they're are some other activities besides pirating other ships.

Solar_Crimson posted...

How did Ubisoft get themselves into a legally-binding contract with the Singaporean government over a fucking video game?

Probably related to tax breaks for putting their studio there or something.

All they had to do was copy Black Flag

FatAnimeBooty posted...

All they had to do was copy Black Flag

It was originally supposed to be a multiplayer expansion for Black Flag back in 2013-2014. But it took so long to develop and was so mismanaged that they lost their release window, so they decided to make a full game.

And then the Singapore government gave them a lot of money in exchange for giving people jobs at the Singapore office, that they now HAVE to release it at some point.

FatAnimeBooty posted...

All they had to do was copy Black Flag

I like Rollins as much as the next guy but I don't see his work really vibing with Ubisoft's design paradigm.

PowerOats posted...

What how? Xenoblade X had none of dat

It took like 20 hours to get a Skell

Maybe theyll stop making games, Ubisoft is awful

Its wild how off the rails the development of this thing went. "Wouldn't it be cool if we had a multiplayer expansion to AC Blackflag (2013)?"

A hundred million dollars and AC Unity, Syndicate, Origins, Odyssey, Valhalla, and huge amounts of DLC for all those games later and they have spent over 100 million $ and released noting for this thing.

dont people already have sea of thieves

Jagr_68 posted...

heavy microtransactions + battlepass system and premium digital currencies.

And here is where I went from "might buy it out of curiosity" to backing out like that Homer into the hedge meme

Irony posted...

It took like 20 hours to get a Skell

Yes, but non-skell exploration/combat is as fun, if not better than skell exploration