MIA pirate game Skull & Bones has a new vision, Ubisoft says
But don't expect a re-reveal until 2021.
Pirate game Skull & Bones has a new vision, Ubisoft has said - but don't expect a re-reveal until 2021.
Skull & Bones, which was announced three years ago at E3 2017, won't be at tonight's Ubisoft Forward event, creative director Elisabeth Pellen said in a blog post. We last saw gameplay in 2018.
So why the delay? "The answer is that we simply needed more time," Pellen said, before suggesting the game has gone through quite the transformation behind the scenes.
"We dreamt something bigger for Skull & Bones, and these ambitions naturally came with bigger challenges.
"These difficulties resulted in necessary delays for our game. Critical questions needed to be addressed over the past several months such as: how do we modernise the classic pirate fantasy? How do we ensure a more immersive and visceral experience? How do we create cool and memorable moments in-game? For most of these questions to be answered, it was clear that we needed more development time.
"As Skull & Bones evolved from its original idea to what it is now, it was also necessary to have some fresh eyes join the team. I was one of those people when I joined as Skull & Bones' creative director a little over two years ago. I have been part of the game's core team that leads many of the talented developers at Ubisoft Singapore. Since then, many new talents have joined our global crew."
Skull & Bones' main developer is Ubisoft Singapore, but in traditional Ubisoft fashion multiple studios are involved, including Ubisoft Berlin, Chengdu, Kiev, Paris and the Philippines.
"We're proud of the work we've done and we hope you will be too when you see more of Skull & Bones at our comeback next year," Pellen said.
When Skull & Bones was announced it was set for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. I imagine that plan has now changed, and the game will hit PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S. The question is, how different will the game be compared to what we saw in 2018?