How to fix Failed to Join Game Session error in Skull and Bones

The Skull and Bones open beta is drawing to a close, and early access is coming on Feb 13. A handful of bugs are still present going into launch, with one of the most frustrating ones preventing you from being able to play altogether.

“Failed to Join Game Session” is an error code that seemingly pops up at random when you’re loading into the pirate adventure game, and once you get this message, you are then brought right back to the main menu. The reason for getting this error code isn’t quite clear, but there are some easy things you can do that should fix it quite quickly. Here is what to do if you get the Failed to Join Game Session error in Skull and Bones.

Skull and Bones: Failed to Join Game Session error

There isn’t a clear cause for this error message, and as such, there isn’t a clear fix either. This doesn’t mean it can’t be fixed though.

I played for several hours on Friday—opening and closing the game freely without encountering the error. The next day, I was unable to play because of the Failed to Join Game Session code. A quick search told me I needed to update my graphics drivers to fix it, and I knew immediately that the advice wasn’t accurate (I had updated my graphics drivers the day before and had no issues connecting to the game servers). Dissatisfied with those tips I was reading online, I decided to go with the old faithful “did you try turning it off and back on” method by force quitting and relaunching Skull and Bones… and it worked.

How to fix the Failed to Join Game Session error

This is a degree of speculation, but I’m fairly certain this error occurs when an attempt to connect to a server times out. Skull and Bones is an always online game, which means any time you launch the game, you need to connect to an online match. This naturally means there are significantly more random errors that can occur, and getting this error code isn’t necessarily indicative of a corrupt download or outdated drivers.

1) Restart Skull and Bones

If you get this error, the first thing you should do is close the game and try again. Most of the time, the solution will be as simple as doing the equivalent of refreshing a web page.

2) Check your network connectivity

If you’ve tried this method a couple of times and you’re still getting the error, the next thing you should do is ensure your network connectivity is working. This doesn’t need to be a whole thing—if you can open and use a web browser, then your connection is sound. A good connection doesn’t necessarily mean Skull and Bones can access that connection though.

3) Run Skull and Bones as administrator

Once you’ve ensured your PC is properly connected, you can verify that Skull and Bones has the permissions it needs to connect to servers by right-clicking on Ubisoft Connect or Epic Games Launcher (whichever platform you’ve installed Skull and Bones with) and selecting Run as Administrator. The same verification can be done inside Windows Firewall, but this method is far more streamlined.

4) Check for corrupt files

If all of the above methods don’t work, then you can resort to verifying your installation isn’t corrupt. In either Launcher’s Library page, right-click on Skull and Bones, select Properties (or Manage in the Epic Launcher), then Verify Files. It isn’t likely you’re getting the error message because of a bad install, but it won’t cause any harm to check.

5) Blame everything on Ubisoft

If you’ve done all of the above and you’re still getting the Failed to Join Game Session error, then the error is on Ubisoft’s side. It’s frustrating, but always online games are prone to issues—especially at launch when the servers are clogged.

Going off experience, the Skull and Bones error should resolve after a couple of attempts, and once the game’s servers are more ironed out it should disappear entirely.