Ubisoft boss Yves Guillemot recently said Skull And Bones is a "quadruple-A game", which I think is very accurate, actually. "AAAA" is the sound that escapes my lips as I embark on yet another hour-long sail to retrieve some logs, or when I'm doing my little deliveries and a brigantine starts on me. After 11 years in development, Ubisoft's pirate game isn't necessarily a disaster, I just think its live service model has transformed piracy from a roguish lark on the waves into a tremendously dull series of shipping tasks.
]]>Because it’s somehow my job to worry about the technical fidelity of electronic toys, I’ve been eyeing the long-overdue arrival of Skull and Bones with some nervousness. After nearly a decade of delays, you’d probably just want to get it out the door, right? Skip straight to the open-world pirate adventuring, none of that 'making it work on a range of graphics cards' nonsense.
]]>It's happening! Why I played Skull & Bones back when it wasn't even a live service game. But now it is, and it's out this weekend. We talk a bit about how long it has been coming out, why it's been in development this long, and why they didn't just release the sucker the two or three previous times they got close to doing so. Honestly, I hope it does okay. We also talk about the games we've been playing this week, and Nate challenges us with a game of Palworld Pal: real or fake? PLUS the giant game dildo and our recommendations this week.
]]>Last night I spent an hour in Ubisoft Singapore's Skull And Bones, the much-reconceived, nigh-mythical open world pirate game that has been in development since 2013. Taking a leaf from the book of feared intergalactic corsair Samus Aran, the prologue starts you off at the height of your bucanneering powers, with a mighty gold-and-scarlet galleon at your disposal that is shortly blown to bits by the English Navy.
]]>Continuing their great prank of pretending they plan to release Skull And Bones, Ubisoft today launched an open beta for their multiplayer open-world pirate boat game. The free beta will run until Sunday night, after which Ubisoft will presumably delay the game for another seventeen years while once again redesigning the whole thing. When you buy your great grandniece Skull And Bones for her 17th birthday, you'll be able to tell her you were there for the mythical open beta of '24.
]]>Ubisoft Singapore's piracy sim Skull And Bones started development in 2013, and during the subsequent decade-and-change it has seemingly collided with every possible reef in the ocean of videogame production, undergoing a series of delays, reboots and staff departures. Perhaps it will take you the same amount of time to sail across it: this is Ubisoft's "biggest open world" offering, in the words of former creative director Elisabeth Pellen.
]]>The much delayed, rebooted, and delayed live service pirate 'em up Skull And Bones actually pencilled in a release date not long ago. Just when you thought it couldn't get any more remarkable, Ubisoft have also announced it'll get an open beta before it launches. In only a couple of weeks, you'll be able to sail the seven seas with a purple rarity cannon firing off common rarity cannon balls that you bought off a rank 25 landlubber with your Skullbucks. Cool!
]]>Skull And Bones was initially meant to launch in the autumn of 2018, but it's been delayed and delayed, rebooted and delayed some more. Its most recent slip was from November of this year into 2024, but Ubisoft have now put a new specific date on their multiplayer pirate 'em up: February 16th, 2024.
]]>Ubisoft's multiplayer Jolly Rog 'em up Skull and Bones is caught on the reefs once again. Recently tipped to appear in early fiscal year 2023-2024, it's now due to make landfall in the publisher's FYQ4 - sometime between January and March 2024. What's the Golden Age of Piracy equivalent for "vapourware"? I'm picturing a spectral vessel like the Flying Dutchman, crewed by glum-faced producers and with a big grimacing statue of company CEO Yves Guillemot affixed to the prow.
The troubled naval combat sim isn't the only Ubisoft project experiencing misadventures. As revealed in their latest earnings report, the publisher have also pushed back a mysterious "large game", originally due to launch before the end of their current fiscal year, to the next fiscal year, which means at some point after 31st March 2024. Speculation runs rife that the anonymous blockbuster is Ubisoft Massive's Star Wars Outlaws.
]]>At what point do games enter the old, or retro, or classic camp? Or better yet, at what point does a game need a remake? Apparently 10 years is the answer, since a remake of Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag (aka the best one) is reportedly in the early stages of development at Ubisoft, at least a0ccording to a report from Kotaku. If true, this means it's joining The Last Of Us Part 1 as 2013’s other maybe-too-soon remake.
]]>Skull and Bones still doesn't have a release date, but Ubisoft have now announced that the game will have a closed beta in August. The developer announced the news that the much-delayed game would be receiving a beta alongside a… sea shanty, which is obviously fitting given the whole it being a pirate game thing, but is maybe the funniest way of doing such an announcement for a game that seems like it's never coming out. You can currently sign up to potentially join the closed beta on the game's website, with the test set to take place August 25-28.
]]>Make no bones about it: Ubisoft's perennially delayed Skull & Bones is still coming. A new developer video proves that, offering a fresh look at some sumptuous seas during a hunt for an Ungwanan renegade. The most interesting part of Skull & Bones is still its tortured history, with a recent sixth delay pushing it even further back from the original 2018 release date - but oh, maybe I do want to be a boat after all. At least for a bit.
]]>The sea is harsh, but game development can be harsher. Ubisoft's pirate 'em up Skull and Bones has been delayed yet again, despite already having being delayed for the fifth time last September. It was due for March, but this latest delay pushes it back to "early" in the financial year 2023-24, which begins in July.
At least it's (sea)faring better than three other unannounced Ubisoft games, which have been cancelled thanks to Ubisoft's general underperforming sails. Sorry, sales.
]]>Ubisoft’s much-delayed shanty ‘em up Skull & Bones has been dashed by another four months, pushing its release from November to March 2023. The announcement came as the devs revealed that the game will receive an open beta period in “the near future”. Details of how to sign up for the beta are expected soon.
]]>If there was any PC graphics option I could choose to tweak in real life, it would be "Clutter". My flat forever has it set to Very High, but Skull And Bones will let PC players cycle it down to Low with only a few clicks. It's one of many options highlighted in the "PC features" trailer, which also highlights 4K HDR, ultrawide monitor support, ray tracing and other graphical wizardry available in Ubisoft's pirate 'em up.
]]>It's fair to say that Skull And Bones has had a somewhat troubled development. Ubisoft's pirate-themed live service MMO has been knocking around for almost a decade, having been overhauled a couple of times since it started life as a DLC for Asassin's Creed IV: Black Flag. But at a stream tonight it was revealed that Skull And Bones still exists, and not only that, but it has a release date of November 8th, 2022. Still a few months left to delay it again if necessary, but fingers crossed.
]]>Back in the mists of time, I actually had a hands on with Ubisoft's pirate 'em up Skull And Bones once. In my memory of it, I was an adolescent, which was categorically not the case and probably more a product of the booths at Gamescom being very tall, not to mention the hands on taking place so very long ago. At that time, the game was essentially the naval combat bit from AC: Black Flag, carved out and extended to be its own thing. Now, years later and with many delays and reworks bobbing about in its wake, Skull And Bones is back, and looking a bit different.
The current state of play for Skull And Bones was revealed with a livestream tonight, featuring an explainer video walking you through some of the game features, a chonk of the game in piratical action, and a surprisingly close release date confirmation for the 8th of November 2022 (there's still time for it to be delayed again!). All those extra months in the oven have produced a decidedly Sea Of Thieves-shaped bun. But this one is all realistic and gritty, more complicated, and is taking itself seriously. You won't catch Skull And Bones announcing its new season features with a comedy song, that's for sure.
]]>Ubisoft Forward is returning this September. Ubisoft's very own not-E3 livestream will "reveal updates and news on multiple games and projects", Ubisoft say. Before that - on this Thursday July 7th, even - the publisher are going to broadcast an in-depth look on their lost-at-sea live service pirate 'em up Skull And Bones.
]]>Pirate 'em up Skull & Bones has been delayed and delayed, and is currently expected to reach port sometime this year or next. It's been a while since we last saw it in action, but four minutes of footage leaked earlier today, showing a walkthrough of the game designed to prime journalists or testers before they play the game.
The seemingly old footage has already been taken down, but the official Skull & Bones Twitter account has tweeted a hint that it won't be long before we see something more official.
]]>If you take a look at our Skull & Bones tag on RPS, it's clear the ever-upcoming pirate game has had its fair share of troubles. It's suffered four delays, the removal of a managing director and a change in vision, and until now we could only wonder what was really happening behind the scenes. But now a new report tells of eight years of rocky development at Ubisoft's Singapore studio: from mismanagement and issues with creative vision, to a deal with the Singapore government promising to release the game.
]]>What is a skull if not a bone? A bone structure? Either these pirates are pedants or they should have named their game Bones & Bones.
Perhaps it's questions like these that have led Skull & Bones, Ubisoft's seafaring adventure, to be delayed yet again. This time it's been pushed until sometime after March 2022.
]]>Ubisoft have removed Hugues Ricour from his position as managing director of their Singapore studio, which is currently developing pirate ship combat game, Skull & Bones. His removal comes after a leadership audit was performed at the company, following allegations of sexual harassment.
]]>Three years after announcing Skull & Bones with an initial squall of previews, Ubisoft still don't have much to say about the pirate ship game which was once due in 2018. Don't expect to see it during tonight's Ubisoft Forward announce-o-rama stream or even this year, Ubi have now said, but they do assure that production is "in full swing with a new vision". Last we saw, it was basically the ship battles of Assassin's Creed: Black Flag expanded into a multiplayer game.
]]>In all this talk about Assassin's Creed Valhalla's viking blokes in boats, I'd almost forgotten about Ubisoft's other boats game. Ships, pardon me. Skull & Bones is the pirate-themed naval combat game they announced yonks back in 2017. It's not scuttled yet, apparently, but may be changing course to a live service game.
]]>Ubisoft have announced delays for hack 'em up Watch Dogs Legion, zombie spin-off Rainbow Six Quarantine, and the Zelda-lookin' Gods & Monsters, pushing their vague release windows deeper into 2020. They're now all due in Q2 or Q3 of Ubisoft's 2021 fiscal year, which in humanspeak means from July to December 2020.The blast of business news also included word that launch sales of Ghost Recon Breakpoint were "very disappointing" for Ubisoft. Alright everybody, tidy up those ties (full Windsor, please, we're not Wall Street animals) and open your Funfax to fiscal 2021.
]]>Ubisoft's conference included everything we expected, from a closer look at Beyond Good & Evil 2, to confirmation of the leaked Assassin's Creed Odyssey, to the now traditional (and delightful) Just Dance dancy party. If you don't have time to watch the conference in its entirety however, here is a showcase of the trailers that were shown and links to the associated news from Ubisoft.
]]>What sets Skull & Bones apart from Sea of Thieves? Being more of an action-RPG and having enemies who can actually put up a decent fight, for starters, going by a new gameplay explain-o-trailer for Ubisoft's upcoming shared-world multiplayer pirate shipfight sandbox action-RPG. It gives a broad overview of customising your ship's loadout, ship class special abilities, engaging in shipstealth to slip past watchful NPCs, plundering booty, teaming up to fight real big ships, backstabbing piratepals, and making your pirate ship just look real cool.
]]>Ubisoft's salty multiplayer shipfighter Skull & Bones will not launch this autumn, as had been the plan, because Ubisoft have delayed it for a fair while. They want extra time to make sure it's proper good, yeah? Wouldn't want to launch a ship then have the front fall off or, like Sea Of Thieves, realise the front was never even there. Ubi now expect to release Skull & Bones in the 2019-20 financial year, which runs from April 1st, 2019 through to March 31st, 2020.
]]>Skull and Bones [official site] is a game I've wanted for a long time. That has nothing to do with its setting or style, though a Black Flag follow-up of sorts is an attractive proposition – but, no, the appeal of Skull and Bones is more abstract. This is the result of Ubisoft having one of their apparently specialist studios build an entire game around their specialism. Almost like a mega-bucks version of the animation experimentations of Grow Home.
In this case, it's not procedural animation. Here, we're with Ubisoft Singapore and the wonders of water.
]]>Each year E3 rolls around like a giant evil worm, crushing all that's good and pure. BUT that worm also announces lots of exciting gaming news as it wreaks its carnage upon the Earth. Here we have gathered every announcement, reveal, and exciting new trailer that emerged from the barrage of screamed press conferences over the last few days. And lots of it looks rather spiffy.
A rather enormous 47 PC games were either announced, revealed, or updated upon, with new trailers, information, and released dates that will all be missed by at least three months. We've collected the lot, with trailers, in alphabetical order, into one neat place, just for you.
]]>The splendid ship combat of Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag is returning, in a way, reworked and expanded to become a standalone game. Ubisoft today announced Skull and Bones [official site], an online pirate 'em up with players pootling around the ocean scrapping and looting. A crude analogy: like like Black Flag meets World of Warships and maybe The Division. Here, see some salty action in this multiplayer gameplay trailer fresh out of E3:
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