Skull and Bones has experienced what is arguably the strangest development cycle in the history of gaming. It has been in development for several years, and every time it gets close to being released, it gets delayed. It was postponed for the sixth time in January 2023, and there are still some that believe it’s an ill-fated game that will never actually launch in full.
Despite that belief, Ubisoft is apparently working hard on Skull and Bones behind closed doors and with constant feedback from playtesters. It was recently revealed by Ubisoft that there’s a secret, ‘improved version’ of Skull and Bones that it hasn’t yet shown to anybody – not even the testers themselves.
Should The Ship be Scuttled?
Recently, Ubisoft has found itself in the press a lot, and not really for any good reasons. Most recently, a financial update gave way to the promise that a stacked agenda would be deployed this year, including the release of Ubisoft’s mobile projects: The Division Resurgence and Rainbow Six Mobile.
However, Skull and Bones remains a mystery, as amidst constant development and investment from Ubisoft, it’s still yet to impress any fans playing the game – or testing it.
Recently, Insider Gaming caught up with some of those playtesters, and the general consensus was that it is far from being an enjoyable game.
Now, information dropped by PCGamer revealed that Ubisoft is keeping a top-secret, improved version of Skull and Bones under wraps – for whatever reason. It may be a hot and fresh injection of copium from Ubisoft to keep the fires stoked, but at the same time, it could be the product that heralds in a new age for Skull and Bones – one where it actually, you know, releases.
Here’s the comment that was made by CFO Frederick Duguet:
We said in January, we’ve been very happy with the playtest that we’ve seen in early January, so we have a very strong improved version to show to players that they haven’t seen yet.
There was also talk of using that version of the game to drive momentum forward ‘in the next month’, but there’s no indication of what’s actually happening in the next month to give credence to that comment.
Regardless, fans are at the end of their tether with Ubisoft and with Skull and Bones. It has been delayed so many times that the majority of the audience that was once excited about it has now moved on to other projects. Even a recent, lengthy gameplay video wasn’t enough to generate any hype for the project:
There’s very little hope now that Skull and Bones can recover, but never say never, right? Perhaps Ubisoft is desperate to see another pirating adventure succeed like Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag did way back in 2013.
Never say never.
For more Insider Gaming news, check out our coverage of the news that Sons of the Forest is the most-wanted game on Steam.
