Some Gamers Can Play Skull and Bones Early

Some Gamers Can Play Skull and Bones Early

• Skull and Bones early access kicks off on February 13.
• The early access period is available for those who buy the game’s premium edition or pre-order its base version. Alternatively, the Ubisoft+ Premium membership also comes with the same benefit, and is the most affordable way to play the game early.
• Skull and Bones officially releases for PC and current-gen consoles on February 16.

Some gamers will soon be able to start playing Skull and Bones a few days early even without placing a pre-order or purchasing its higher-tier edition, so long as they have a Ubisoft+ Premium membership. This early access period is scheduled to kick off on February 13, three days ahead of Skull and Bones’ official release.

To say that Ubisoft Singapore’s live-service pirate game went through development hell would be an understatement, as underlined by the fact that the project began over a decade ago, in 2013. 11 years, three creative directors, and seven Skull and Bones delays later, the game is now finally set to reach PC and current-generation consoles on February 16.

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Skull and Bones: Release Time

Here’s all the information on when Skull and Bones will release including early access dates and launch times.

As has become customary with AAA releases, Skull and Bones will be playable early for people who buy its premium edition—which is priced at $89.99—or pre-order any version of the game. But unlike most such titles, its early access period will also be available through a subscription. Specifically, shelling out $17.99 for the recently rebranded Ubisoft+ Premium membership will allow players to experience the Digital Premium edition of the game, thus automatically enrolling in its three-day early access period.

How To Play Skull and Bones Early Access

From February 13 to February 15

• Purchase a Ubisoft+ Premium subscription ($17.99).
  • Only available on PC, Xbox, and Amazon Luna.
• Purchase the Digital Premium edition ($89.99) of the game.
• Pre-order the base version ($69.99) of the game by February 12.

Ubisoft+ Premium is currently available for Xbox, PC, and Amazon Luna users. Ubisoft does have a PlayStation subscription service bundled with PS Plus Extra and PS Plus Premium, but that offering only includes access to its classic releases, leaving owners of Sony’s consoles without a way to play Skull and Bones early for under $20. As for PlayStation gamers planning to jump into early access with a pre-order, they should make sure that their purchase is actually still valid if it was made prior to 2024. Namely, Sony has been automatically refunding some Skull and Bones pre-orders in early 2023, around the time the game suffered its sixth delay.

Skull and Bones has been available for preload since the 11th or 12th of February, depending on the region. The game is roughly 50GB in size across all platforms, so downloading it in its entirety shouldn’t take more than a few hours on a decent connection of around 40 megabits per second.

The imminent window of opportunity to play Skull and Bones early arrives mere days following the game’s open beta period. Player reports on social media suggest that the test was plagued with connection issues, although that’s not too unusual for public betas, whose very purpose is largely geared toward stress-testing servers. Whether those problems persist through the upcoming early access period remains to be seen.

Skull and Bones

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 undertake missions to collect treasure and raise in rank. Players will rely on ship combat with cannons, mortars, and rockets to defeat both NPCs and other player ships.

Platform(s)Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X, Amazon Luna, PS5, PC, StadiaReleasedFebruary 16, 2024Developer(s)Ubisoft SingaporePublisher(s)UbisoftGenre(s)Action, AdventureESRBM for Mature: Blood, Strong Language, Use of Drugs, Violence See at Official SiteSee at SteamSee at Xbox Games StoreSee at Playstation StoreSee at WalmartSee at Best BuySee at Amazon