Ubisoft’s ill-fated pirate simulator Skull and Bones has hit another development snag, getting delayed again. Skull and Bones has been pushed from this fiscal year into next, which puts it anywhere between April 2022 and March 2023. Ubisoft announced the delay as part of its earnings call today, saying that the extra time will “allow the team to fully deliver on its vision.”
“We strongly believe in the team’s creative vision and they have been given an increasingly ambitious mandate for the game,” Ubisoft CFO Frédérick Duguet said. “Production led by Singapore has been advancing well over the past 12 months and the promise is better than ever. The additional time will allow the team to fully deliver on its vision.” Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot is also confident in the team at Ubisoft Singapore working on Skull and Bones.
VGC notes that Skull and Bones, originally announced in 2017 for a 2018 release, has now seen repeated delays for four consecutive years. We were able to go hands on with the game at E3 2018, but reports since indicate the game has been drastically changed and rebooted numerous times from what we were originally able to play three years ago.
Skull and Bones has reportedly shifted to a living, persistent open-world model now. The series was spun off as a new IP based on the piracy and ship aspects of Assassin’s Creed. The intention was to give the development team more creative freedom, but it seems like the unbridled freedom has created some hiccups along the way. Still, Ubisoft seems to be resolute in its desire to bring Skull and Bones to market. The publisher announced a Skull and Bones TV series back in 2019, and last year purged the development studio’s head after a leadership audit.
Ubisoft announced a whole new vision for Skull and Bones last year, with the new creative director and Ubisoft veteran Elisabeth Pellen spearheading the change. While Ubisoft hasn’t detailed what that new vision is, VGC reports that it has heard of an ambitious goal to make a persistent living world that evolves based on the collective actions of the community.
Ubisoft confirmed that this fiscal year will still see the release of Far Cry 6, Rainbow Six Quarantine (reportedly changing to Rainbow Six Parasite), Riders Republic, the recently announced The Division Heartland, and Roller Champions.
[Via: VGC]
