Skull and Bones Associate Director Antoine Henry has left Ubisoft Singapore. The Ubisoft veteran worked at the company for nearly 15 years and helped develop big-name titles such as Watch Dogs and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. Henry also previously worked on Skull and Bones as a Lead Game Designer until 2017, after which he became Associate Director. The news of Henry’s departure comes after previous reports from last year that the game suffered from years of extensive management issues.
What Happened to Skull and Bones?
Ubisoft announced Skull and Bones at E3 2017. However, the development of the game initially started as DLC for Assassin’s Creed Black Flag back in 2013. The title later became its own IP, with Ubisoft’s Singapore office heading the project. Things hadn’t gone too well at the studio, though. In 2020, Ubisoft Singapore removed its former Managing Director Hugues Ricour after several employees accused him of sexual harassment and misconduct.
Goodbye Ubisoft! After nearly 15 years, today was my last day.
I'm thankful for the people I've met and what they brought me professionally and personally. Hopefully I was able to give back a little bit.On to new exciting adventures very soon! pic.twitter.com/XT7PWwhOGB
— Antoine Henry (@bob2356) December 23, 2021
Even before that, the project reportedly suffered from a lack of creative vision due in part to meddling from the Paris office. Past and current Ubisoft employees claimed that higher-ups would panic and scrap core concepts of the game, resulting in multiple complete overhauls over its 8-year development period.
In fact, the development of Skull and Bones restarted yet again just last year. The reports also mention a deal with the Singapore government in which the studio would receive subsidies in exchange for developing a live-service game in the near future, adding even more pressure to an already rocky project.
Fortunately, development seems to be going at a steady pace now. While Skull and Bones was initially delayed to 2023, it has since stayed on schedule as per a financial report released back in October 2021. Antoine Henry’s departure may not spell doom for the project, so long as someone can step up to take their place.
In other news, the PSVR 2 was recently revealed and we compared its specs with Sony’s previous VR headset. The Last of Us Remake has also been rumored to be in development.
