If there's anything the gaming industry has made abundantly clear over the last decade, it's that live-service games are hard to make, and even harder to maintain. After the rise of MMOs and Skull and Bones Items games like Fortnite and PUBG, many publishers decided to try their own hand at creating the next big live-service hit, and more often than not, they failed dramatically. A live-service game needs the perfect blend of satisfying gameplay mechanics, meta-progression systems, and an ongoing narrative that keeps players hooked for the long term, and unfortunately, Skull and Bones just doesn't have that perfect mix.

A game nearly a decade in the making, Skull and Bones became one of the most infamous cases of development hell in the gaming world, having been restarted multiple times during its production. But against all odds, Skull and Bones finally released in February of this year, where it was met with a resounding shoulder shrug across the board. Skull and Bones currently sits at a 59 on Metacritic, and doesn't seem to be doing all that great. But there's one trick Skull and Bones still has up its sleeve.

Skull and Bones Might Be in Some Troubled Waters

Just a week after Skull and Bones' initial launch, Insider Gaming's Tom Henderson posted a report that stated the game had just 850,000 players across all platforms. While that number seems pretty high, it's actually quite low for a Ubisoft game, especially the company's first self-titled "AAAA" game. This player count also included anyone who was using Skull and Bones' free trial, meaning that a portion of the playerbase presumably hadn't even paid for the game, and could potentially drop off as soon as the trial was finished.

There is currently no official way to know how many players Skull and Bones has at the time of writing. Skull and Bones isn't on Steam, so sites like SteamCharts and SteamDB don't have any information on player counts. Plus, Ubisoft hasn't made any official statements regarding the game's playerbase or its success yet.

Things probably aren't going too well as Skull and Bones has been a prominent centerpiece of just about any major platform sale since soon after its initial release in February, which implies that Skull and Bones ' full $70 price tag was indeed too high.

Just before Skull and Bones' release, Helldivers 2 had its launch. A fellow live-service game, Helldivers 2 came out of the gate swinging and became an overnight success. Within its first few months, Helldivers 2 reported over 12 million sales, and Sony wasn't afraid to tell the world about how much of a success it was. In comparison, Skull and Bones' silence seems to speak volumes.

Skull and Bones Could Still Go Free To Play.

Skull and Bones has seemingly managed to bring in quite a few players when it's offered the game for free. At this very moment, PC players can enjoy a free trial up until June 6, coinciding with the game's new season.

If Ubisoft sees a spike in the game's player count during that time, it might be a smart choice to just bite the bullet and make Skull and Bones a free-to-play game. In the end, Ubisoft has probably made all the money it can from full-price Skull and Bones sales, and if the publisher wants to keep the live-service game alive and profitable, then its best option could be to make it free.

Skull and Bones is an action-adventure title developed by Ubisoft with a heavy focus on piracy and naval combat. Set in an open-world environment inspired by locations in the Indian Ocean, players take control of a customizable pirate captain and ship and buy Skull and Bones Silver undertake missions to collect treasure and raise in rank. Players rely on ship combat with cannons, mortars, and rockets to defeat both NPCs and other player ships.