'Skull & Bones' is getting another year of support...

[@LukeStephensTV]

Thanks to Warhammer 40,000: Tacticus for sponsoring this video! Click here to check out the game: play.tacticusgame.com/LukeStephens

[@AD3SPG]

This mobile game is better than the new console game release.

[@Bat_man_2000]

13:30 LOL 😂😭😭😭😂😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@Bat_man_2000]

Can You Do more WonderWoman News just like Teasers or whatever Thanks Luke ❤ Much love from the Middle East ❤

[@AstroNomicalPieStudio]

Watching this video from the trenches of Vraks. The siege goes well. Keep up the good content Luke, the Death Korps appreciates your work. P.S. send more heavy bolter shells if you can thanks dude

[@StrongStyleFiction]

Letting everyone know. Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is coming out in February and not only does it have ship to ship combat. It has boarding and on deck combat. A good pirate game is coming.

[@dawelsh241]

Pvp?

[@StrongStyleFiction]

@@dawelsh241 There is a ship battle arena in the game. That might have online capability but I haven't seen anything for that yet.

[@grumblemumble955]

@@dawelsh241Yakuza/Like a Dragon is solely a singleplayer PvE game franchise.

[@UserNot_Known]

@@StrongStyleFiction Black Flag >

[@dawelsh241]

@@StrongStyleFiction well dang I'm interested

[@mrgrim75]

We live in a world where Skull and Bones lives longer than Xdefiant

[@NoOnesBCE]

That one is easily explained. Skull and Bones is more unique / has less direct competition.

[@keanu7318]

@@NoOnesBCEexactly

[@thefilthycasual448]

But makes less sense because who actually cares about Skull and Bones? Look at the reception it got Vs xdeviant ​@@NoOnesBCE

[@szymussmilitaryfreak]

@@NoOnesBCE How this uniqueness translates in to player count? Bc i NEVER heard about this project being even remotely as popular as XDefiant - which was able to have peaks of 17-20k even in last timespan.

[@SupernovaCola115]

2024 really has felt like 2 years disguised as 1. I could have sworn this game came out last year.

[@bdubb4899]

Not even video game related but I've been thinking that as well

[@theoutsiderjess1869]

Same 😂

[@lalishansh]

February 27, 2024 was release date for season 1

[@Nuck-Fo0bZz]

My favorite part of the game is how the ships have stamina bars. Genius!

[@Dr._Nope]

I'm upset that XDefiant is getting put down like a wounded horse, yet this game is being kept on life support despite clearly being a vegetable.

[@gamingchannelofthefatboigo2595]

I am guessing its becouse its paid and they dont want to shut down an online only title just 2 years after it came out. Guess they havent figuered out the sci fi thecnology known as offline mode I guess..

[@Boomer112]

Yeah, i actually *really* liked XDefiant for what it is or was, now that we'll never get to play it anymore. Yes, it's free to play. Yes, it had tons of microtransactions. Yes, it got boring pretty fast. Still though, i'm really freaking sad that they're shutting it down and i'm really mad that i never really picked it up when it initially released.

[@spectrumgamer21YT]

@@Boomer112 Agreed. I really liked it too, especially playing as the class from The Division. I always thought they were the best and insanely fun class. It was like playing as Firebreak from Call of Duty Black Ops

[@Kamreezyy]

It will go down next year

[@Ingel_Riday6690]

The government of Signapore helped fund the development of Skull & Bones in exchange for Ubisoft setting up a game studio there and assigning said studio to the game. Ubisoft was contractually obligated to release Skull & Bones, and I imagine they are also obligated to support it for X number of years despite it being an utter failure and money sink.

[@UserNot_Known]

Black Flag is the best Pirate game of all time. Incredible game.

[@TracerX]

There's no competition mate... Ofc it's the best. Not just as a pirate game but as a game.

[@makani9004]

I think Sid Meiers Pirates! is a better pirate game, but there's no competing with the cinematic nature of Black Flag, that feeling when ships smash together. Just too bad it had to be an AC game.

[@minekush1138]

Its way more fun but it hardly a pirate game sea of thieves was alright

[@daniell5740]

Not even close the ship controls is trash.

[@BlueBD]

They could not make Black Flag today... And that literal they literally could not make it again, they would fail

[@Kaileigh_Broko]

And somehow Palpatine returned again.

[@Prototype-357]

Yeah he does that a lot, it's honestly getting old at this point.

[@ZeroTheHunter]

I legit forgot this game existed, i wonder why they put down Xdefiant instead of skulls and bones.

[@LukeStephensTV]

I also wonder that, surely it was making more money than this?

[@bgl11]

Maybe part of the deal with Singapore?

[@lunchmeat1082]

@@LukeStephensTVmakes sense with the whole Ubisoft buy out theory

[@ZeroTheHunter]

​@@bgl11perhaps, and like luke said, it was making more money for sure and with the incoming/cancelled season pass with more interesting characters, one has to wonder if they are enforced to loose that money thanks to the deal with Singapur or is just another mindless decision coming from the higher ups.

[@Dreamo84]

@@ZeroTheHunterdo we have any actual data? Or does it just sound like Xdefiant should have made more money? Skull and Bones had a box price too which comes with a higher standard for shutting down I’d say.

[@steven-i6j]

Ubisoft "please singapore, nobodys playing it and my stock is crashing" Singapore "MORE!"

[@greed-1914]

I think this might be right. They made such a bad deal that they even have to support it for a certain time after launch.

[@Maitredebo2]

Alive ? Not even 3K all time peak (For the first AAAA lol). Technically, Suicide squad is alive too. Those games are just on life support until they shut down the machine.

[@torgundal]

How do you know that, where did you get that information? If you are refering to Steam, then the game was out a year before it was added on Steam

[@ScottyDo3sntKnow]

@@torgundalthe game hasn’t been out a year what are you talking about 😂

[@literallysnake]

Like A Dragon Pirate Yakuza In Hawaii will be the real AAAA pirate game and successor to AC4 we've all been waiting for

[@yogiwp_]

Correction, Ubisoft Singapore did Ghost Recon Online before Skull & Bones. So S&B was not their first. They did do support/content work for other projects as well.

[@Andiandru]

Another great game that they axed

[@alexs_toy_barn]

Xdefiant is cancelled for no reason and this game continues to not sail along yet is still getting airdropped food and fuel and water, classic ubisoft

[@rawrdino7046]

No way xdefiant get shut down but this doesn't

[@Labfrm217]

this doesn’t surprise me because ubisoft tends to keep supporting stuff even tho they gave up on xdefiant, i think of the division 2 because they’re still “supporting” it but that means like 2 small updates a YEAR

[@lajahamamomo]

They probably had this already in the chamber so they figured they could squeek out a little more money before going into the dark night.

[@kosaku_kq5601]

Come February and you can instead play as an amnesic yakuza pirate captain in the Hawaiian sea.

[@mx6own0r8]

I checked yesterday (dec 19th) and there were 104 people currently playing.

[@ashadreadful]

💀

[@jjtechman101]

That's on steam most people own it on different platforms that don't have charts

[@jjtechman101]

It didn't launch on steam until much later

[@IlllllllllllllllllllllIlllll]

I'm happy for the remaining 250 or so players, even when I know their minds are in a vegetative state.

[@JasonfreakinGreen]

Pirates of the Burning Seas was a great piratey MMO back in the day. They had a really good formula going on. It would be nice if that game like that came out, I think it would be a hit.

[@TheForever206]

I imagine the game is still standing due to the seal with the Singapore Government.

[@Xevonarin]

Shut down XDefiant, a game most people don't even realize came out because it was exclusive to Ubisoft's shitty launcher which literally nobody uses or wants to use, shut down The Crew and be sued for doing so, but pledge another year of support for the game that, as of this very second, has 93 players on Steam. I'm not a conspiracy theorist or anything, but Ubisoft has to actively be trying to go bankrupt. There's no other explanation that makes sense at this point.

[@LinkedGlint]

Imagine the game a had a multicrew system where players/friends could join your ship, help you fight or just chill. Something like Pirates of the Caribbean online had. In that game you could actually board ships and have sword fights with your friends.

[@Theachivmentsearcher]

Skull and bones is temu's version of "sea of theives"

[@KruxSmash]

A true pirate-themed MMO style game would go incredibly hard. Ship combat similar to World of tanks, ammo types, weak points, armor improvements for ships, crews, captains, etc. Then implement a PvE side similar to EVE Online. Simple resource gathering (mining), merchant/freighter quests, can hire players to escort goods, a whole living breathing economy and world. Nobody could make such a game, without ruining it with microtransactions though.

[@isaacchillman11]

People forgetting about Concord ❌ People forgetting about Skull and Bones ✅

[@Maitredebo2]

Concord will be remembered for years just because it is probably the biggest failure in gaming industry. Not sure that's how they wanted to be remembered lol.

[@WarBirdGhost]

Concord, who? Don't answer.

[@isaacchillman11]

@ lol

[@AnarchyGuru1]

What you missed in describing the game is that it is close to MMO. At endgame you basically do the grinding cycle to earn money, factories and po8 coins. That can buy you gear, weapons or crafting materials. And you do all that by doing regular missions and seasonal stuff. If you cant buy something then you have to hunt on trade routes. You can find fun there. Sailing is cool. Fighting in storm is epic. I enjoyed it for what it is - pirate ship MMO. What hurts the most is what this could be; Black Flag but online.

[@torgundal]

I am one of those people that play Skull and Bones up to several hours per day and theres actually a lot to do in the game now with bosses and quests and an empire that requires work, When I played Black Flag I was thinking to myself that I wish we could get a game with just the ship part, no sword fighting or any of that, just a game where I can sail around and be a pirate, and that is what we got and there are other people like me. I hope this game will run for many years.

[@aragornelesar3862]

There is no way this game is brining in more revenue than xdefiant was. No wonder ubislop is going bankrupt.

[@Inkgnition]

Well, this is what they said - but let's not forget the fate of XDefiant. They had big plans for it too. A follow up video a year later would be great to see if Ubi kept their promises... or they still exist.

[@TheOnlyTaps]

The infamous "Quadruple AAAA gaming" 😭💀

[@TheNightquaker]

I like pirates too, but i like the Somalian ones. Can we get a game for that too? Or should I just do it IRL instead?

[@desepticon4]

I put a lot of hours into modded Sea Dogs games, mostly City of Abandoned Ships. I would have really loved something in that vein. Those games were an ugly and buggy mess but really captured the vibe of being a pirate.

[@frozone-yeah]

Skull and Bones can do what Skull and Bones wants, I got all the pirate adventure I need with Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii coming out.

[@KOTSOSMC2002]

Always looked fun to me, idk man. "But Black Flag, Rogue and Sea of Thieves better!!!" well, yeah, most likely, have played those 3 and they indeed slap, haven't played Skull & Bones. However, every time I've seen it I do become curious and want to try it, probably would have if I had a current gen system available.

[@Gunblade_man]

Pirates of the caribbean for pc got this right 2 decades ago. It blows my mind how they cannot do it nowadays.

[@HeyItsTheWykydtron]

Ubisoft riding the skinny dying horse that is Skull Bones, just like Radahn keeping Leonard alive but way funnier😂

[@aledantih6524]

Man if they kept Steep going as long as they did I'm convinced Ubisoft will keep anything rolling.

[@VadimPakhutkin]

You forget that people who love their games-no matter what kind of games-usually are less vocal about it and just enjoy playing them. HoegLaw unironically loves Skull&Bones and I don't think he was even paid to promote it, and sunk cost fallacy doesn't apply to him. Plenty of "regular" players are loving it too. The game wouldn't be receiving year2 support if there truly weren't any real fans. A good metric for that is steam reviews with 100+ hours. If a grindy game consistently gets positive or mixed reviews with 100+ hours, it's good enough, especially on sale.

[@swathalo02]

Best thing about skull and bones is the soundtrack

[@NBDJust_Dave]

We need a video game based of of the song, "Pirates" by Emerson, Lake and Palmer

[@KaoruMzk]

I think they might be contractually obligated to support the game for an arbitrary amount of time as part of that agreement with the Singapore government.

[@Dedmeetdm]

What was the last good Ubisoft game? For me it was Odyssey.

[@brokendreamchaser399]

Nah mate , Ac Origins was for me the best or at least in that game theres a certain creativity, with secrets and stuff. But i also did play Odyssey eventually finished it cause it was extremely big size map

[@brokendreamchaser399]

Frank stone, 40k warhammer marines, indiana jones great circle, cyber punk 2077 with dlc ,jedi survivor are my current games i play And i did try stalker 2 , but its a really demanding game so my i5 processor wasnt enough to hold a decent frame rate ,in fights and big areas my fps was like 5-20 😂😂😂

[@stock6600]

Unironically, Black Flag. Maybe For Honor if it was released later? Not sure

[@CatBoxGMZ]

I hope they are able to pull of a turn around like No Man Sky and Cyberpunk

[@EricLing64]

The poison boss actually has mechanics, if you slow down and look during that fight, he signals where his mortar shots are going, just stay out of them and you won't take the poison damage. I think he doesn't fire as many cannons while doing it either. There is some depth to the gameplay if you're looking for it, but it's perhaps not what people were expecting or wanting from a pirate ship game, perhaps. Big thing if you're having trouble with a boss is call out for help, if there are many players on your server they might join in, kind of handy. Admittedly I haven't played in a while so no idea how popular the game still is. I think the game could have been great, but the mismanagement left it as very much lacking, and no idea if it's even possible to fix. The land based hubs are awful to navigate, don't even think about turning that into actual combat.

[@AD3SPG]

If Greedfall had a bigger budget and team this could have probably been a great pirate like RPG game.

[@Plethora1c]

Please talk more about the Wonder Woman game troubles. I saw a story that said that 2026 for a finished game would be “generous”

[@russellthander3850]

Somehow palpatine returned

[@ras_alhim]

Ubisoft is usually pretty good in continuing their games, I mean even For Honor is still getting updates

[@Andiandru]

For Honor is fun.... Even when each updates makes the heroes less unique

[@ichewcrayons]

Those 2 players really are keeping this game alive…

[@FleeingAmoeba]

Wait, why am I watching a 30 minute Skull and Bones video when you have insider information on Wonder Woman?

[@reallurker]

Maybe this is the game that France's top managers forgot about ...... So it survived. But it's too early to tell - next spring's Assassin's Creed will be the deciding point.

[@Luckysquirrel1256]

All they had to do was just make a new map for Black Flag under the hood and package and sell it as Skull & Bones. Gamers would have ate that up, and it probably would have only taken them a few years to polish.

[@Tyrannosaur6265]

I don’t know why you guys are surprised, did you forget this is basically the first quadruple A game ever made?

[@Saulgoodman94]

Luke makes himself laugh we gotta study this specimen 😂

[@tpmgaming999]

Sometimes games just get better with more updates im all for a redemption story

[@grit9938]

I'm hoping the big studios will realize these live service games are too big of a risk and go back to making focused, well-done games. I would also accept them continuing to push harder into failure and allowing smaller devs that actually care about their games to overtake them as the AAA studios. But where we are now with them having the top billet while also putting out garbage is atrocious.

[@Pancake_Madness]

They literally could've just modded AC4 to be multiplayer and it would've succeeded as a niche pirate game. Actual effort should've guaranteed success. Ubisoft is truly impressive at screwing up.

[@TheCephalon]

It’s not still alive. It has 78 players right now

[@KrispyKrabby]

deadass forgot this game even existed, so idk how this is possible 💀

[@ashadreadful]

Ubisoft be spoiling those 100 online players. Damn, was made just for them. How sweet and sugar daddy of ubi....

[@sherpagoolsbee8390]

Game was way better than I expected

[@brandonreyes7113]

If it wasn’t just a glorified version of world of tanks it would be okay I guess

[@tayman9011]

I want a really really good one piece open world game or mmo with my own custom character. I almost want a AAA version of the Roblox GPO game.

[@Heyybrowusup]

Skull & Bones currently has 97 people playing on Steam. There is no way this game is making money.

[@sensoeirensen]

Ubisoft never listens to feedback. After the first announcement gamers raised their voice and we all said the same!! We don‘t want multiplayer. We want to go out of the ship. Basically a Black Flag 2 without AC. AC was not needed. Instead we got this crap.

[@theoutsiderjess1869]

Skull and Bones lasted longer than Suicide Squad let that sink in

[@kheops101]

I was working at one of the Ubisoft studio working on this game when they started development more than 10 years ago. What I can share is that the very initial scope for this game was that it was supposed to be a multiplayer PvP Mobile game, where you only sail the sea with a ship you can upgrade. You were fighting other ships along the way while fighting massive sea creatures. It was supposed to be super simple and to ship in a SINGLE year, getting released in 2015. Here we are 10 years later. Yikes.

[@LegDayEnjoyer-496]

I thought it was simply a classic case of sunken cost fallacy, but turns out they're contractually obligated to support the game 😂😂

[@Saulgoodman94]

If your gonna do a live service pirate game Ubisoft sea of thieves is how you actually do it 😂

[@who610055]

Imagine Bloodborne 2 is gothic pirate 🏴‍☠️ themed 😅

[@Redgraver]

Skull and bones get another year of support, and Xdefiant couldn't get past the next season? Im so mad at ubisoft

[@DrGoldenLink]

Monkey island looking at you like ☠️☠️☠️

[@Avenged900]

If anyone has ever played War of Warships, that I can compare Skull and Bones to.

[@PeterSwatzell]

Thank you for the bright emotions! Your videos are always so inspiring! 💚🍓

[@stevencote2012]

Yes, on the Wonder Woman game. Will be interesting to watch.

[@Goose_Willis]

I want a cool in depth pirate sim game. I played AC IV. It's cool, but it's still just an AC game. The last dedicated pirate game I played was Sid Meier's Pirates! It was okay, but I need something more.

[@GeneralCba]

I cant take another nordic/samurai game. Thought this was just me lol. A Pirate world is soooo under used and could be so different and fun. Cyberpunk is the best game ever played as its such a different and immersive world, and not open fields by horse

[@Elder_Wyvern]

The graphics in Arkham Knight are so much better than graphics of 95% of games these days, perfect example, same studio: SS graphics are shieeeeeeeeeet compared to Arkham Knight

[@mitchnewland4916]

I thought this game is dead at this point it’s on life support

[@ytnewhandlesystem42]

Hey, they wanted to be a survival game. They are literally surviving now.

[@alchemik666]

Not to sing my own praises, but I kind of thought Skull and Bones won't die very soon and even argued that online around the Concord drama... Just because there's so little competition in pirate games. There's an actual niche Skull and Bones occupies unlike Concord or Suicide Squad no one wanted in the first place. We'll see how long that lasts, but it might stay around on life support longer than most people expected.

[@KRJayster]

Black flag, sea of thieves, assassins creed rogue or odyssey have extensive sailing sections… hell even Kingdom Hearts III is a better pirate game than Skull and Bones and that’s literally one level. That’s how badly skull and bones f’ed this up. It’s amazing.

[@Universal0Life]

Just like wizard games I would say pirate games are just hard to get right that’s why companies don’t do it

[@Scarduck14]

Yes do Wonder Woman, As it was announced it had nemesis system and being only game since the Shadow games I’ve been desperate for another game to use it. Hate Warner for copyrighting it. Then not utilise it in any games since seriously aggravates me. One off the best game mechanics ever designed IMHO. Would be great getting some info on Wonder Woman…. But after you saying it’s had troubles. Now I fear Nemesis won’t be included.

[@tonyjr867_]

hope all these studios learn from all these live service L’s and start investing in real passion projects. i think of the amount of millions and millions dumped into these lifeless cash-grabs and immediately ponder upon the amount of smaller scaled focused games that could have been made with love using a fraction of that. i think these AAA failures we’ve seen in 2024 were honestly necessary. i have faith that the entire gaming industry will get the memo and i think the future of gaming is brighter because of it. hopefully they start listening to what the players really want and opening up to ideas of the devs who actually make these games.

[@AmazingGameification]

Definitely interested in hearing about the Wonder Woman game

[@saumayagoel234]

Skull and bones can be played single player so they could still recoup costs. Probably that's why they are supporting it? I don't think xDefiant can be played in single player so they canned it

[@megapeebs2631]

Skull and bones died the moment Sea of Thieves announced full crossplay and a PS5 release on the same exact day of the trailer

[@RedSetGoYT]

Luke is the king of fake laughter

[@blkreid]

Wouldn't mind seeing take two handle a pirate game

[@everygamersdream72]

I'm so sick of hearing how bad this game is because they spent a long time making it, that it's bad because they spent lots of money on it, because they said it was AAAA and because it was $70 and I'm definitely sick of hearing that it's a bad game because it's not Black Flag. Does anyone ever just talk about the actual game?

[@tonydeluna8095]

I’m hoping next year 2025, will be a better year for games. I still can’t believe Astro Bot won for GOTY.

[@Caspeaon]

It will just based off the confirmed releases alone. Borderlands 4, Monster Hunter Wilds, i think that new from soft standalone game is coming out next year too, GTA 6?! and thats just what we know is coming, next year might even be better than last year was for gaming

[@MetastaticMaladies]

Tons of great indie games came out this year. Why don’t people pay attention to indie? So many great games

[@KedarPatel91]

You played astro bot? It was a pretty damn fine game... But overall the lineup was meh.

[@thycrookedking2744]

I still think this game has potential, though in ubi's hands it probably wont flourish

[@Krazyman5150ninja]

Pretty much confirms they only wanted to get rid of assets that could drive up value.

[@bootsthecat6718]

"Dark science, cloning, secrets only the Sith know."

[@Leos_Hager]

Bit to add. Skull and bones cost nothing in IP. Also the team was okay to continue work on it. (Could have been shut down but is a small team(maintinace team)) The over all build leaves it easy... easier to build on and work with. The player base is less vocal. Like no man sky once the rage passes the team is left with; option one... die or option two... with little money continue work. I still don't think they will get a chance to do much as the company on whole is.... in a bad of way. For more life advice drink more beer!

[@Siyintax]

Skipping ads is a huge rush of dopamine for me

[@fr0ck360]

Quadruple A Ubislop game last longer than Concord 🗣🗣