Less than a month after Ubisoft showed off Skull and Bones gameplay in a big re-reveal event, the company has decided to slap the game with yet another delay. Ubisoft today quietly announced that the arcade pirate ship action game is now aiming for a March 9, 2023, launch
The latest delay skips the November 8, 2022, slot from before, which it received only in July. Some may remember that Skull and Bones was originally announced back in 2017 during Ubisoft"s E3 presentation with a 2018 launch window. Since then, the Ubisoft Singapore project has reportedly gone through multiple reboots, with delays continuing to come through as years ago by.
Interestingly, Ubisoft Singapore has said the game"s development is "finished at this stage," but recent feedback from technical tests has made it go back to polish up the experience further. Handily, the delay also makes Skull and Bones not compete with God of War Ragnarök"s launch on November 9.
"We’re very eager for you all to get your hands on Skull and Bones and dive in headfirst to the dangerous and exciting world of building your own pirate empire," the studio adds. "To give you the best possible experience we’ve decided to take a little more time to make sure we can deliver exactly that."
The live-service naval game involves players controlling their own individual ship as they roam around battling AI and other players for loot. The ship battling gameplay is similar to Assassin"s Creed IV: Black Flag, but there are no elements of exploring islands or controlling an individual pirate. Here, the player"s ship itself is the only controllable element, coming with its own firepower upgrades and cosmetics.
Those who were looking forward to the November launch may have a chance to play the game still however. An open beta of Skull and Bones will be going live "in the near future", with more information on how to register and available dates coming soon.
Ubisoft"s high-profile games lineup are all now targeting 2023 and later, with Assassin"s Creed Mirage, two more Assassin"s Creed RPG entries, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake, The Settlers reboot, the Splinter Cell remake, and Massive Entertainment"s Star Wars game still to come.