It’s still sailing the seven seas
Skull and Bones still exists, according to Ubisoft. And development is even going well, apparently, and isn’t even canceled (yet)!
Speaking on an earnings call (as reported by GamesIndustry.biz), Ubisoft CFO Frédérick Duguet confirmed that development on Skull and Bones was going “well,” mentioning it in the same breath as the Avatar game (yes James Cameron’s Avatar, I totally forgot about that one too) and Mario + Rabbids. Duguet acknowledged openly that Skull and Bones had been in dev “for a long time,” but noted that he was “very happy” with how it was progressing, particularly from an aesthetic standpoint.
As a recap, Skull and Bones was announced five years ago, then delayed a year later. Four years ago it had a showing at E3, with a “2019” release date, which was obviously pushed. Then Ubisoft said it was planning a TV show for the property, and got delayed yet again. Then we heard reports that it was becoming a live service game, which killed a lot of the hype for it, and it was most recently pushed out to 2023 at the earliest.
It’s been a ride! For both us and the development team, I’m sure. But that’s what happens when you have a monolithic publisher at the helm: things change and shift, and the budgets are huge.
