The number of people playing Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag has risen 200% on Steam after the release of fellow Ubisoft pirate game Skull and Bones.
As reported by PCGamesN, the player numbers of 2013's Black Flag have floated either side of 1,000 for years. According to tracking website SteamDB, however, this number spiked on February 16: the day Skull and Bones finally released after years of troubled development.
Black Flag rose to 1,679 players upon launch, followed by 2,600 on February 17, and 3,226 on February 18. That growth has continued, not dipping below 2,401 since reaching a new peak of 3,594 on February 25. Skull and Bones has yet to launch on Steam, with Ubisoft favouring a PC release on the Epic Games Store and its own storefront, so player numbers are unavailable.
Announced in 2017, Skull and Bones initially looked set to provide players with more of what made Black Flag so popular: intense and dramatic ocean adventuring and combat. Six delays seemingly caused excitement to dwindle, however, and Skull and Bones has finally arrived in 2024 to little fanfare. "Skull and Bones is a maritime RPG with a strong foundation, even if it feels like a live-service first draft," IGN said in our 7/10 review.
Ubisoft's marketing for the game has seemingly inspired a few thousand players to return instead to Black Flag, even with an eight-hour free trial of Skull and Bones available.
In our 8/10 review of the former, IGN said: "Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag is a gorgeous, fantastic sequel that gives you the freedom to make your own fun."
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.
