Skull and Bones
How often? All around the pirate MMO Skull and Bones simply does not want to rest. Since the official announcement at E3 in 2017, there have already been numerous postponements and a complete restart of development. Most recently it was heard that the game is not expected to be released before March 2022 - and now the next bad news will follow. Allegedly, the work on the project had to be restarted from scratch.At least that's what a current report by Game Luster magazine shows. This refers to an unspecified source, which is probably very close to the action and has relevant information. According to this, the restart of the development of Skull and Bones (buy now 70.77 €) at Ubisoft Singapore was a few months ago and falls roughly in the same period as the allegations of sexual harassment that the studio had to contend with. However, it is not known whether there is a direct link between these two events.
A Sea of Thieves clone?
The Game Luster report also shows that the early alpha version of the restart version differs significantly from the earlier concepts. The game is now presented from a first-person perspective while the character is on board a ship. As soon as he goes ashore, he changes to the third-person view. There ought to be some similarities with Sea of Thieves. Furthermore, the work on the new version of Skull and Bones is currently in a very early phase, so that even a release in 2022 cannot be considered guaranteed. Ubisoft has not yet issued a statement on the report.Source: Game Luster
Skull and Bones Development Has Reportedly Been Rebooted Once Again
A new report claims that development on the game was recently restarted, and a launch in 2022 is unlikely.
Skull and Bones’ troubled development is well documented by now. The game was first announced all the way back in 2017, with Ubisoft positioning it as their next big new IP. Originally scheduled for a 2018 launch, but has since been delayed time and time again, most recently to a FY 2023 (April 2022-March 2023) launch window.
And it seems development on the title has hit even more snags of late. In a recently published report, Game Luster claims that according to a source close with the project at Ubisoft Singapore, the studio where it is in development, the game has rebooted development once more. It is currently in the early stages of development, apparently, and is unlikely to come out even in 2022.
Allegedly, with its new direction, Skull and Bones is taking a new approach, which sees the camera in first person view when you’re controlling a ship similar to Sea of Thieves, and in third person view when you’re on-foot off ships.
This is an unconfirmed report, of course, but given how many issues the game’s development has faced, it doesn’t seem unfeasible. Last year, it was reported that the game’s creative director left Ubisoft in 2018, and that the game had been rebooted several times. A few months later, reports claimed that the game’s development had been rebooted once again in order to focus on live service storytelling.
In late 2020, following a string of allegations of sexual harassment at misconduct, a number of high profile employees at Ubisoft either departed or shifted to new roles. This included head of Ubisoft Singapore Hugues Ricour’s departure from the company.