Ubisoft Delays Skull & Bones (Again) “To Fully Deliver On Its Vision”

Skull & Bones, an upcoming naval and piracy-focused game, has been delayed for the fourth time in a row by publisher Ubisoft.

Skull & Bones, an upcoming naval and piracy-focused game, has been delayed for the fourth time in a row by publisher Ubisoft.

During an earnings call earlier today for the full 2020 financial year, chief financial officer Frédérick Duguet announced (via VGC) that Ubisoft has decided to release Skull & Bones somewhere during its next 2021 financial year which begins in April 2022 and ends in April 2023.

“We strongly believe in the team’s creative vision and they have been given an increasingly ambitious mandate for the game,” said Duguet.

“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.”

Skull & Bones, inspired by the naval battles of Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag, was first announced in 2017 for a release in the second half of 2018. The game was delayed into 2019 and then again into early 2020 before being pushed further forward into somewhere between April 2021 and March 2022.

The latest delay hence makes for another year-long wait for fans who have been waiting patiently all of these past years.

The idea behind Skull & Bones was to take the naval elements of Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag and create a completely new pirate-themed multiplayer experience. Ubisoft admitted last year that the project was more ambitious than originally perceived, leading to numerous production challenges which ended up in delays. That being said, development was said to be “in full swing” for a year now after developer Ubisoft Singapore decided to pursue “a new vision.”

Skull & Bones was supposed to offer a premium, open-world piracy life supported by years of content through a live service model. Whether that goal still exists remains to be confirmed. Considering that the game has already been delayed for nearly four years, it reasons that Ubisoft might have decided to tone down the original dream.

Skull & Bones was announced for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC, with enhanced versions coming to PlayStation 4 Pro and Xbox One X. With PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X out, the game is probably seeing a native release on the new consoles as well.

Saqib is a managing editor at segmentnext.com who has halted regime changes, curbed demonic invasions, and averted at least one cosmic omnicide from the confines of his gaming chair. When not whipping his writers into ...