Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Gaming
  3. News

‘Skull & Bones’ takes players to the brutal, open-world seas of 1721

By
Players will get to sail the open seas in Skull and Bones, an online open-world adventure set during the golden age of piracy. Ubisoft announced the upcoming game at its 
Recommended Videos
E3 2017 press conference on Monday.
Related

Set on the Indian Ocean in 1721, players will take control of their own ship as they join a community of pirate gangs. During the quest for fame and fortune, pirates can build powerful fleets, customize ships, prey on trade routes, and take down rival pirate non-player characters or other online players.

Skull and Bones: E3 2017 Multiplayer and PvP Gameplay | Ubisoft [US]

There are multiple ways to play in the world of Skull and Bones. Solo players can raid the Hunting Grounds alone or team up with other players to tackle larger prey. By entering Disputed Waters, captains can fight other naval ships in a variety of game modes.

This marks the first game for Ubisoft Singapore, which previously developed Assassin’s Creed Unity alongside nine other studios. It is best known working  on the ocean and naval gameplay in Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag. Going a step beyond those naval battles, Skull and Bones utilizes weapons, spyglasses, and even the wind as players stalk and destroy their enemies.

1 of 4
skull and bones announcement sb screen warcry e3 170612 215pm 1497266566
Image used with permission by copyright holder
skull and bones announcement sb screen stealth e3 170612 215pm 1497266563
Image used with permission by copyright holder
1197000 autosave v1 sb screen shallowwater e3 170612 215pm 1497266560
Image used with permission by copyright holder
skull and bones announcement sb screen ramming e3 170612 215pm 1497266558
Image used with permission by copyright holder

This was just one of many announcements made during Ubisoft’s E3 2017 press conference. Other announcements include Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle, Starlink: Battle for Atlas, and The Crew 2. On Sunday, the next entry in the Assassin’s Creed franchise was revealed during Microsoft’s Xbox briefing. Assassin’s Creed: Origins takes place earlier than any entry in the series to date and will reimagine aspects of the series.

Skull and Bones will be released in fall 2018 for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. Owners of the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X can expect enhancements. Those interested should sign up for the Beta on Ubisoft’s website.

For more news coverage from E3 2017, keep can eye on our E3 roundup page throughout the week.

Editors’ Recommendations

Topics
Garrett Hulfish
Garrett Hulfish
Contributor
Garrett is the kind of guy who tells you about all the tech you haven't heard of yet. He also knows too much about other…
With E3 2023 gone, other gaming events need to step up
A purple E3 logo floats in the air.

Despite how inevitable the complete downfall of E3 felt over the past several years, E3 2023’s official cancellation still strings as it’s a significant loss for the game industry. For gamers, press, and developers, the show served multiple purposes that digital livestreams and scattered publisher-specific events don't currently replicate. In lieu of E3’s cancelation this year, and potentially forever, it’s time for other gaming events to step up and help push the video game industry forward.
Why we lost E3
I’m lucky enough to have the experience of attending three E3 shows across 2017, 2018, and 2019 and many publisher-run events focused on specific games or tighter game lineups. In its final years, E3 felt like the perfect middle ground to the gamer-focused PAX and industry-focused GDC, where people from all walks and sides of the video game industry could come together, see what’s coming in the future, and share their love for games.

It also felt more freeing than publisher-run events, as I discovered and experienced games of all sizes that I may not have otherwise and got to meet many people from every angle of the game industry. Apparently, the Entertainment Software Association struggled to convince enough people that this style of expo was important four years after the last physical event.
In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Entertainment Software Association president Stanley Pierre-Louis blamed E3 2023’s cancellation on the Covid-19 pandemic, “economic headwinds” due to the current recession that impacted marketing budgets, and the fact that “companies are starting to experiment with how to find the right balance between in-person events and digital marketing opportunities.”
The first two are understandable and have impacted a lot of physical events over the past couple of years. Still, the last reason speaks to a bit more worrying of a shift for those looking to network, get attention from the press, get a broader look at the industry’s future, or even pitch a game.
What we lose
Events are a great way for indies to get unexpected and much-needed attention from players and the press; look at the chance encounter that got one of our team’s freelancers hooked on Homeseek at PAX East. Now, indies will have to hope to gain attention at those more indie-focused events like PAX or be cherry-picked to be featured in a more prominent company’s showcasing. There’s also the networking and pitch factor to it.

Read more
E3 2023 has officially been canceled by the ESA and ReedPop
E3 logo

The Entertainment Software Association and ReedPop confirmed that E3 2023 has been canceled following a report that broke the news. E3 2023 was supposed to take place between June 13 and June 16.
Earlier today, IGN reported that two of its sources received an email from the Entertainment Software Association saying that this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo has been canceled because it "simply did not garner the sustained interest necessary to execute it in a way that would showcase the size, strength, and impact of our industry." Soon after, a tweet from the official E3 account confirmed that "both the digital and physical events for E3 2023 are canceled."
https://twitter.com/E3/status/1641546610218811393
E3 was once a prominent annual video game industry trade show but has struggled to re-emerge since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. E3 did not take place in 2020 or 2022, and a digital-only attempt at the show in 2021 did not live up to expectations. The ESA was attempting to bring the show back this year with the help of PAX organizer ReedPop, and even approved press passes for the event already, but it appears the developers and publishers have lost faith in E3. Ubisoft pulled out of the show earlier this week after initially committing to be there, while Sega, Bandai Namco Entertainment, and Level Infinite confirmed they wouldn't be there in the following days.
While E3 2023 is not happening, there are going to be many other things for people to look forward to. Geoff Keighley will host a Summer Game Fest show on June 8, Microsoft is holding a Starfield direct and larger showcase on June 11, while Ubisoft will have a Ubisoft Forward Live event in Los Angeles on June 12.

Read more
Here’s what E3 2023 could look like without Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft
Playstation character wall at E3 2018

Let's start with the good news: E3 2023 will be held in its in-person format once again after three long years of digital events necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic, this time with ReedPop at the helm. The bad news is that Sony, Xbox, and Nintendo -- gaming's "Big 3" -- may not show up at the industry’s biggest convention this summer.

This is according to a report from IGN citing multiple sources, who claimed the companies won’t be a part of the show or make appearances on the floor at the Los Angeles Convention Center in any way. Their absence from this year’s E3, especially Nintendo’s, may come as a shock to the gaming community, but it's not such a surprise when looking at the past few iterations of E3. Even before the pandemic locked everyone down in 2020, Sony and Xbox had been hosting their own E3-style livestreams, so it was more likely they would do it again this year anyway. Nintendo, on the other hand, managed to show off its upcoming games via Nintendo Direct streams and at its booth, console kiosks and all.

Read more