Skull and Bones is an upcoming multiplayer action-adventure video game published by Ubisoft. Skull and Bones have been in a very long and tumultuous development cycle at Ubisoft Singapore. The game first began its development in 2013, initially as an expansion to Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag. Then as an MMO spinoff title under the name Black Flag Infinite. This sounds very similar to the most recent Assassin’s Creed Project, Assassin’s Creed: Mirage, which was conceived as an expansion to Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. But rather than coming out just a few years later, the game has been in development hell for about ten years.
Delay and Open Beta
This brings us to the latest news about Skull and Bones. In a recent update, Ubisoft informed everyone that the game is being delayed again from November 8th 2022, to March 9th 2023. The delay is being touted for polishing and balancing the experience of the game. This is seemingly in order to give the players the best possible experience at launch.
Skull and Bones Artbook
But in the same update, there was also the announcement of an open beta. This will be the first hands-on look at the game for the players. It will be released sometime before the release of the full game.
The History of Delays
This is the fifth significant delay Skull and Bones has seen after It was first revealed back at E3 2017. Then the game appeared to be riffing on the excellent naval combat systems of Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag. Back then, the game was set to release by 2018. The game was later pushed into 2019 with its first delay. Later Ubisoft went utterly silent on the title, with many rumours of the game being rebooted. The second and third delays were in 2020 and 2021, respectively, further pushing the game. But recently, the game was set to release in 2022, with it being very prominently shown off. It was also set to one of the first Ubisoft titles, priced at 70$ for the next generation. But here we are facing yet another delay to the game, pushing it into a 10-year development cycle.
Skull and Bones Pirate Ship
So, assuming that there will be no more delays, Skull & Bones is coming to Xbox Series X and S, PS5, Google Stadia, Amazon Luna, and PC on March 9th 2023.
