Ubisoft's mercurial pirate fantasy set to launch in 2018, but numerous delays have harpooned much of the interest surrounding the title, which looked promising when it was originally revealed.
Now that Sea of Thieves has firmly established itself as the go-to for pirate fantasy and high seas adventure, however, Skull and Bones has struggled to gain much traction or interest in its long development period. Originally, the title looked like it would be a direct competitor to Sea of Thieves, but the latter has been iterated on several times by developer Rare in the years since its release and has pushed the genre forward as a result. While it was assumed that Skull and Bones' early delays were simply to ensure it was launching with enough content to compete with a firmly-established title, rumors began circulating earlier this year that the title's absence was due to a complete overhaul of its direction.
Ubisoft Singapore, the development team behind Skull and Bones, confirmed in a post on the official Ubisoft website that the game was not going to be at Ubisoft Forward in September because it was in the midst of a reboot. Creative director Elisabeth Pellen stated in the post that they game needed to be delayed so often because the team "simply needed more time" and, during development, began to dream "something bigger." The open-world pirate game has reportedly "evolved from its original idea to what it is now," though Pellen did not share any specifics on what that new vision looked like outside of vague hints about the modernization of the standard pirate tropes and discussion of in-game immersion.
The update did double down on the fact that Skull and Bones will eventually be revealed, though. The game hasn't outright been abandoned, and Pellen stated that many teams were working on molding the game into something "worth the wait." For now, the update stated that fans can expect to see more next year, which means it will be at least four more months before consumers see where Skull and Bones stands.
Regardless of the reasons, the Skull and Bones reboot and delays are likely the best decision from the team working on it and Ubisoft as a whole, even if it's a source of frustration for those eager to learn more. Releasing a bad game is tough to recover from, even with a talented team working constantly to try to salvage it - Anthem is a recent example of how easy it can be to fall into that trap. Instead, taking many more years than planned but eventually releasing something that offers consumers something new will at least give Skull and Bones a chance to succeed, even if it's now a dark horse contender rather than the AAA hype machine that it felt like when it was first unveiled so long ago.
Skull and Bones is currently in development.
Source: Ubisoft
