To promote Skull and Bones, Ubisoft has released a trailer that shows off a dedicated Ship’s Wheel Controller, so naturally plenty of people want to buy it for themselves.
Gimmick controllers like this are nothing new; we’ve all seen the guitar controllers for Guitar Hero, for example. We can’t recall there ever being a controller designed after a ship’s wheel, though, and while the trailer is short, the controller is clearly incredibly detailed. Ubisoft boasts it’s been hand carved, so it looks like it’d actually belong on a real pirate ship. It can spin a full 360 degrees, it has a directional pad and face buttons built into the handles, and there are even velocity paddles.
The on-foot sections whenever you disembark from your ship would probably be a bit weird to do with this controller, but it’d be perfect for the majority of the game when you’re steering your ship, sailing across the open world, and engaging in sea battles against other players. It’s no wonder people in the YouTube comments are asking how much it’ll cost them. If you fancy the controller for yourself, though, prepare for disappointment.
Is the Skull and Bones Ship’s Wheel Controller for sale?
No, Ubisoft is not selling the Ship’s Wheel Controller for Skull and Bones, nor does it plan on giving it away in a sweepstakes competiton; it was only made for promotional purposes. We wouldn’t blame you for not realizing this since Ubisoft only mentions this in tiny text at the bottom of the screen at the end of the trailer.
It’s a shame since such a controller would be really cool to own and would add a level of authenticity to Skull and Bones‘ gameplay (not to mention fun to show off to friends). However, it probably wasn’t easy to make and likely took a lot of time, especially if the wheel was hand crafted, as Ubisoft says. It can’t have been cheap either; we’ll probably never know how much Ubisoft paid for the manufacturing, but it’s extremely unlikely this controller would’ve been widely available if the company did intend to sell it. It probably would only launch with a very limited supply and cost an arm and a leg.
We can only speculate, but perhaps Ubisoft considered making the controller publicly available and figured it’d be too expensive for most people and wouldn’t make back the manufacturing costs? There have already been claims of Ubisoft not expecting Skull and Bones to turn a profit on its $200 million budget following its long and hectic development cycle, so maybe it figured there was no point losing even more money on the project. If this thing somehow ever pops up on eBay in the future, though, expect the asking price to be ludicrous.
