Skull and Bones has “record player engagement” says Ubisoft

Ubisoft has announced in a press release that its recent multiplayer pirate game Skull and Bones has “record player engagement” and that its players are spending more time with it per day than nearly any other Ubisoft release. It certainly demonstrates that many players have sunk a lot of time into the game, however it doesn’t tell us much about the game’s overall sales numbers or playerbase size.

According to Ubisoft, Skull and Bones players are playing it for over four hours of average each day, which is the second highest ever at the company. The announcement is a little light on clarifying that statement, such as listing which other Ubisoft game had a higher average daily playtime. It also doesn’t announce a more conventional metric to judge the success of a game like Skull and Bones, such as sales or number of concurrent players. The game isn’t on Steam, making it difficult to judge the game’s success from the outside. That said, its single-player spiritual predecessor, Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag saw a notable spike in players upon Skull and Bones’ release according to Steamdb. Make of that what you will.

In the meantime, Ubisoft has announced the upcoming content that will be sailing ashore as part of the game’s first season of content. Season 1, called Raging Tides, will introduce powerful new enemies, including “the vicious Plague Lord Phillipe La Peste“. Players can also expect new world events, such as additional Merchant Convoys and Elite Warships, new Bounties to hunt and a Seasonal Smuggler Pass, with many cosmetics and Pieces of Eight to unlock along both free and Premium tracks.

We might not ever get clear numbers about how well Skull and Bones is doing. However, Ubisoft at least seems prouder of the state of its launch than Warner Bros. is of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, the other major live service title that released recently. It will remain to be seen if Skull and Bones’ unusually engaged players continue to stick around as Ubisoft rolls out the game’s seasons of content over the next few months.