Even though publisher/developer Ubisoft will be releasing five AAA games by March 2021, we now know not to expect Splinter Cell, Beyond Good and Evil 2, or Skull & Bones by then, the latter of which was apparently rebooted multiple times, as noted by Kotaku’s Jason Schreier.
Skull & Bones was initially revealed at E3 2017 and has since suffered from many delays. It was initially supposed to launch in the fall of 2018, but was pushed back to 2019, and then again pushed to sometime in 2020. Though, after Ubisoft unveiled its upcoming AAA release schedule for the next year, the pirate adventure game was nowhere to be found. In addition to the game’s reboots, Schreier also noted that its creative director left the project in 2018, leading to more turmoil in its development. Our own E3 2018 preview of the game noted that, while it had potential, it seemed to be missing a lot as it focused solely on pirate ship battles and didn’t explore anything else.
Lots of reboots. Creative director left toward the end of 2018. It’ll be a while for that one still
— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) February 6, 2020
Last we heard, Skull & Bones was supposed to focus on piracy and naval battles, similar to those found in Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag (also developed by Ubisoft). Players control a pirate from a third-person perspective, navigating the ocean by themselves or with up to five other players. A TV show by the same name is also in the works and will star a female lead.
What we can expect from Ubisoft by March 2021 are five AAA games including a new entry in the Far Cry series, a new Assassin’s Creed title, Gods and Monsters, Rainbow Six: Quarantine, and Watch Dogs: Legion—none of which have specified release dates. As Schreier notes in his tweet, “it’ll be a while for that one still,” in reference to Skull & Bones‘ release. Based on these reports, the absolute soonest we can expect Skull & Bones to release is after Q1 2021, but based on Schreier’s tweet, even that seems unlikely.
[Source: Ubisoft, Twitter]
