Ubisoft’s long, long delayed pirate “co-op pirate open world action RPG” MMO Skull & Bones has finally set sail with a soft launch into a no-wipe open beta as of late last night. Never again will I have to write a title about a Skull & Bones delay and try to figure out how many times total it’s been delayed. Do you hear me, universe? Never again.
It was seven times, by the way. That we know of.
We’ve been watching the game since we first played it at E3 (ouch) way back in 2017 (ouch) when it was first announced. But frankly, the version of the game that’s finally shipping (not sorry) looks significantly more polished and juicy than the demo version from seven years ago, and Ubisoft could really, really use a win right about now.
The open beta technically ends at 6 p.m. EST on February 11th, with the officially launch coming not quite a week later on February 16th. The game isn’t on Steam, though it’s on PC and console, and you’ll be paying a pretty penny to try it: It’s $60 for the base game and $90 for the premium, or you can pay $18 a month and get it through Ubisoft+. The upgraded preorders, naturally, come with a three-day headstart too, hence the weird gap between soft launch and launch.
If you are diving in today, make sure you skim the known issues list to get a look at all the joy you’re about to encounter being an early adopter. Or just stay tuned as we’ll be streaming it tomorrowday. Avast ye and all that.
