Why Is Skull And Bones Being Floated Out To Die?

thegamer.com:

Arrr me hearties! Scissor me timbers, Skull and Bones is finally about to set sail. Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag is my favourite in the entire series, so even though Skull and Bones is several years too late to ride that wave of momentum, I’m still holding out hope for it. So why in all of the Seven Seas is it being floated out to die?

On the face of it, November 8 is a great release date. It gives it the prestige of being Ubisoft’s big pre-Christmas game, even ahead of Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora. We’re still waiting on an official release date for that, though it’s still expected in 2022 alongside the movie’s sequel. In a vacuum, November 8 is an ideal time to unleash your game onto the world. There’s just one problem - God of War Ragnarok launches November 9.

Related: Making Skull & Bones Instead Of A Black Flag Sequel Was A Huge Mistake

Both games have broadly the same audience. The narrative, tone, and gameplay are all different, but by and large they are both mass market games targeting the casual and semi-casual playerbase. The hardcore crowd will have its eyes on both too, but neither of these are the sorts of niche titles that only the most dedicated players will pick up. There are players who only buy three or so games a year, and both Skull and Bones and God of War are aiming to be one of those three. God of War is going to win.

There is no shame in being outsold by God of War Ragnarok of course. It’s the most anticipated game left in the calendar, and probably second only to Elden Ring in terms of overall hype. I have no idea what Ubisoft’s internal projections for Skull and Bones are, but they can’t be higher than Ragnarok. That’s not really the point. It’s not that it won’t outsell Ragnarok, it’s that