In an unexpected but welcome development, Ubisoft has outlined their plans for Year Two of Skull and Bones.
To quickly sum up a story that’s taken decades, Skull and Bones, the game started development all the way back in 2013, and there’s extensive, if still unverified, research claiming that the game went through development hell before its release in 2024. It was poorly received by fans and critics, and ironically led to an increase in players coming back to Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag.
However, Ubisoft touted that they saw some success in the game, and it was good enough that they even brought it to Steam. And now, Ubisoft has laid out an ambitious Year Two for the game that really feels like they’re committed to it. And by that, we mean it feels just like what happened to Cyberpunk 2077 and No Man’s Sky.
Year Two revolves around a war between two megacorporations seeking to dominate the high seas, the French and Dutch navies. Season One, which starts today, will prepare existing players for the imminent war, giving them the chance to upgrade their ships with Item Ascension and World Tiers to take on more powerful ships.
In Season Two, the war properly starts and you’ll have to pick sides between the French and the Dutch. You’ll still have your empire but basically be working as hired guns. As Ubisoft explain, the players will help determine where the story goes here, as there will be one definite victor in this war.
Season Three will introduce a new antagonist, a Rogue Merchant who is playing both sides. This is where things get exciting, because players will fight the Rogue Merchant by recruiting new Officers. And getting new Officers will require you engage in combat on land, the very thing that gamers said they wanted from the start.
Season Four promises to end things on a high note, as the long beleaguered Sea Peoples finally take their vengeance on the French, the Dutch, the pirates and privateers. They will call on the Kraken to stop the wars in the oceans, in what’s suggested to be a potential reset level event.
We passed on gameplay details here, because we do understand even with all this AAA production values and gameplay systems put in, a live service ship warfare simulator is a hard sell. But Ubisoft seems to be painting the picture that, contrary to what the internet consensus would have you believe, Skull and Bones is doing very well.
And we expect some readers to balk at this idea, but consider that XDefiant is set to sunset completely this June, probably in the middle of Skull and Bones’ 1st and 2nd seasons. We can assure you, given the precarious position Ubisoft is in right now, they would not be maintaining this game if they were not getting some sort of value from it. We’ll leave you to speculate on what Ubisoft sees in Skull and Bones that wasn’t in XDefiant. It’s possible that the answer, quite simply, is that Skull and Bones is actually profitable. A lot of gamers were certainly wrong about Assassin’s Creed Shadows’ prospects of success.
In the meantime, if these clear signs that Ubisoft is definitely committed to Skull and Bones for the long haul was enough to pique your interest, Ubisoft will have a free weekend this April 17 to 21 so you can get started, and if you like it, it’ll also be in discount in this time. You can watch Ubisoft’s Skull and Bones Year Two Showcase below.
