Skull and Bones Gets Delayed For The Sixth Time

After Ubisoft released Assassins Creed: Black Flag, the company envisioned a new game with a pirate setting. Initially envisioning a multiplayer mode for Black Flag, the project took a different route.

This game would be known as Skull & Bones and began development around 2013. Over the years, Skull & Bones faced constant delays and mishaps. 

The game would continuously be reimagined, suffering conflicting ideas between teams that had no general direction for the game. With at least 6 delays, Skull & Bones may not be released until 2024. This is 6 years after its original 2018 release date. 

Key Takeaways 

• Skull & Bones has been delayed again,
• It will not release until Ubisoft’s fiscal year 2023-2024.
• Ubisoft also canceled at least 3 other titles because of cost-cutting. 

Skull & Bones will now have a release date sometime in Ubisoft’s 2023-24 fiscal year,  pushing the game into a late 2023-early 2024 release window. 

The delay of Skull & Bones is according to a press release from Ubisoft. Ubisoft has also canceled at least 3 other titles and is planning 200 million euros in cuts across the company. The company is expecting to cut costs through natural attrition, canceling projects, divesting assets, and restructuring. 

Despite these achievements, the Company is facing major challenges as the industry continues to shift towards mega-brands and long-lasting titles than can reach players across the globe, across platforms and business models. Our strategy over the past 4 years has been about building long-lasting live games and adapting our strongest franchises, mainly Assassin’s Creed®, Far Cry®, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon®, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six® and Tom Clancy’s The Division®, to these converging trends to make them truly global brands. However, the games from this investment phase have yet to be released, while our recent launches have not performed as well as expected,” says Ubisoft.

We have seen what happens in the past when games get rushed. Cyberpunk 2077 is a great example of this, but the development of Skull & Bones has reportedly been chaos, and this has dripped into the game itself. Ubisoft is in a very tough spot right now, and they really need a winner more than ever.