Ubisoft currently has five AAA video games due to release before March 2021 includingAssassin’s Creed: Valhalla,Watch Dogs Legion, Rainbow Six: Quarantine, andGods and Monsters. The unannounced fifth game is heavily rumored to be a new entry in the popularFar Cryfranchise, pushing back any hope of seeingBeyond Good And Evil 2or a newSplinter Cellgame in the near future. Most notably, Ubisoft’s naval-combat pirate game,Skull & Bones,continues to be entirely absent from the conversation.
First announced during E3 2017 and scheduled for release in the fall of the following year,Skull & Boneshas received a number of major delays that have seemingly pushed the pirate-adventure as far back as 2022.Skull & Boneswas last shown during E3 2018 and has been relatively quiet for the past eighteen months outside of the announcement that a TV series was in the works. WithSummer Games Fest underway, next-gen consoles on the horizon, and Ubisoft’s own digital event less than two weeks away, what happened to Ubisoft’sSkull &Bonesand where is it now?
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What We Know About Skull & Bones So Far
Skull & Bonesis an upcoming open-world action game developed by Ubisoft Singapore which is currently slated for release on PC, PS4, and Xbox One. Inspired by the naval-combat ofAssassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, inSkull & Bones,players take on the role of a feared Pirate Captain, sailing the Indian Ocean with their own ship and fleet in acinematic single-player campaign, as well as the online PvP multiplayer with up to five friends.
InSkull & Bones,pirates have refused the King’s Pardon and sailed out of the Caribbean to the Indian Ocean, a location known as the Hunting Grounds. To survive the Hunting Grounds, players need to acquire more ships, assemble a crew, and create a hideout as a safe haven where they can “plan activities, track progression, and manage ships, resources and crew.” While the hideout is on land, the core gameplay ofSkull & Boneswill be entirely at sea and players will be able to customize their ships name, design, and the crew members, based on their unique abilities.
Having previously worked on the naval-combat forAssassin’s Creed 3andAssassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag,Ubisoft Singapore wanted to continue working on pirates and naval combat; however, future prototypes quickly strayed from what theAssassin’s Creedfranchise was known for. Rather thandevelop anAssassin’s Creedspinoff game, Ubisoft opted for to create a whole new IP so the team would have creative freedom over the project without being tied down to any pre-existing lore and mechanics.
Delayed and Delayed Again
Originally scheduled for release in Fall 2018,Skull & Boneswas delayed in May 2018 to the 2019-2020 fiscal year, allowing more time for Ubisoft Singapore to develop “an even more engaging experience” for players. A second delay came in May 2019, pushing the game past the 2019-2020 fiscal year, however, Ubisoft didn’t provide an updated release window. According to the officialSkull & BonesTwitter account, the team at Ubisoft Singapore stated: “We’re going to batten down the hatches and push back on the game’s arrival—this is a challenging news for us all, but it’s what’s needed to makeSkull & Bonesas awesome as it can be!”
Pushed Back to Next-Gen?
In October 2019,Ubisoft made the announcementthatWatch Dogs Legion, Rainbow Six: Quarantine, andGods and Monstershad all been delayed into the 2020-2021 fiscal year, making up the majority of the five AAA games the publisher had planned for release. WhileSkull & Boneswasn’t officially named, it’s all but confirmed that the previous delay pushed the game back as far as the 2021-2022 fiscal year, due to release sometime between April 2021 and March 2022. With that in mind, there’s always going to be the question of whether Ubisoft Singapore has made the decision to jump to next-gen consoles and release on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X instead?
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Where is Skull & Bones?
According to recent reports,development onSkull & Boneshasn’t been easy with the game going through multiple reboots over the course of its life. On top of that, the game’s Creative Director Justin Farren left Ubisoft Singapore toward the end of 2018, a move that isn’t likely to have helpedSkull & Bones’ongoing identity crises. Whichever date Ubisoft Singapore is planning for the release ofSkull & Bones, it looks like it’s still going to be a while.
Following the cancellation of E3 2020, Ubisoft confirmed that it would be holding a digital event during the month of June called Ubisoft Forward, and that fans can expect an “E3-style showcase with plenty of exclusive game news, exciting reveals, and much more.” Ubisoft Forward is set to take place on July 12th, meaning the earliest that players could expect to see an update onSkull & Boneswon’t be for at least another six weeks.
Skull & Bonesis in development at Ubisoft Singapore.
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