With the recentUbisoft Forward event showing off major titleslikeWatch Dogs: Legion, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla,andFar Cry 6,some fans still had one question on their minds: Where wasSkull and Bones? The game first set sail atUbisoft’s E3 presentation in 2017with an extensive gameplay walkthrough showing off elements similar to the boat mechanics in certain Assassin’s Creed entries: Upgrading your ship, raiding outposts, and engaging in naval combat.
Initially planned for a release in 2018, the title has since all but vanished, getting pushed back year after year. The latest official news came from Ubisoft’s CEO Yves Guillemot during a 2019 investors call where he stated that the game would be out sometime in the 2021 fiscal year. But why the delay? And why no mention of the gaming during the recent Ubisoft Forward?
We might now have an answer.Video Games Chronicle reportedthat the game has expanded into a more ambitious live service title.Skull and Bonesalways had a large multiplayer component, but now its story quests and PvP combat are being blended into a single experience, something that one could assume is akin toSea of Thieves.Apparently, the title was struggling to form its own identity and distance itself from simply being anAssassin’s Creedspinoff.
The team reportedly decided to turn it into a more cooperative game to separate it from Ubisoft’s predominantly competitive multiplayer experiences.Fortnite‘s big year was 2018, and its seasonal updates and chapters were reportedly a big influence on the gameSkull and Boneshas now become: A world where the communities’ actions will forge the experience going forward.
This transition also included a leadership change. The game’s previous creative director, Justin Farren, left the company and was replaced by editorial vice president Elisabeth Pellen.
Though two years is a relatively short amount of time, it’s an eternity in terms of game releases. Since the inception ofSkull and Bones’development, the battle royal genre has taken the world by storm, and titles have increasingly introduced persistent online components to maintain their relevancy in the discourse. It was probably a smart move for the team to make sureSkull and Bonespivoted to do the same. Does this mean the game is on the horizon, or will it have to weather the storm a while longer into 2022? With Ubisoft confirming another Ubisoft Forward event for later this year, we might not have to wait long to find out.
