UBISOFT’S upcoming pirate game Skull and Bones has been in development for almost ten years, reportedly suffering from a range of development troubles.
It’s also been worked on by Ubisoft studios in Singapore, Berlin, Kyiv, Chengdu, and the Philippines, as well as other minor work from external studios.
Skull and Bones could be coming soon, after 10 years in development hell
Despite that, the game has suffered half a dozen delays, and the release date still isn’t as clear as some would hope.
Here’s everything we know so far about Skull and Bones and its release date.
When will Skull and Bones be released?
Unfortunately there’s no firm release date for Skull and Bones, despite the game being delayed seven times.
Ubisoft has said that it will be announcing a release date soon, but so far have yet to make any major announcements about the future of the game.
An investors call did shed some light on the topic though, revealing that internally the company planned on releasing the game between April 1, 2023, and March 31, 2024.
It’s likely that Ubisoft is hesitant to set a firm release date due to the game’s multiple delays, which has caused some embarrassment for the company.
Will Skull and Bones be free?
Multiple reports over the last ten years have said that Ubisoft has considered making the game a free-to-play game, but Ubisoft has said that it will be paid.
The PC version of the game will cost players £49.99 for the standard version of the game, while the premium edition with extra DLC will set players back £74.99.
The console version will be much more expensive however, something that is likely to upset some players who don’t play on PC.
On both PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, the standard edition will cost £69.99, while the premium edition will cost £94.99.
Will Skull and Bones be PvP only?
Skull and Bones is set to offer players a wide range of experiences, some of which will include other players in multiplayer games.
Ubisoft says that the game will have a full single-player campaign, where players can explore an open world by themselves.
That said, a major component of the game will be multiplayer, with players teaming up in groups of five to take on other player teams.
There is also a treasure hunting mode where players compete against each other to find pirate treasure the fastest.
Is Skull and Bones a sequel to Black Flag?
Skull and Bones originally started development as an expansion to Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag, but has since been reworked into a standalone title.
For some time, it was known as Black Flag Infinite, before the connection was ultimately dropped and the project was renamed Skull and Bones.
While the game is no longer connected to the Assassin’s Creed game that inspired it, it’s likely that there will be some references to that game.
At the very least, the pirate theming and naval combat gameplay seems to be directly related to Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag, so players who enjoyed that will likely enjoy this too.
Written by Oliver Brandt on behalf of GLHF.
