Skull & Bones is one of those games that was stuck in development hell, and while it seems like that will soon come to an end if the leaked November release date is to be believed, some people are expecting the game to launch with problems. Apparently, Ubisoft Singapore would like more time with the game, but a government subsidy agreement means the studio needs to launch the game soon.
The problems with Skull & Bones
Skull & Bones is due to be released on November 8, 2022, if a leak from Aggiornamenti Lumia is to be believed. The date comes from datamining the Xbox Store, and a November release window was backed up by Kotaku journalist Ethan Gach. However, Gach also suggested the game was in trouble. Officially, the game only has a release window for some time before the end of March 2023, one that it’s had for quite a while. Internally, the release date for the game was supposed to be released early this summer before being pushed back to September and then its current November window. A closed playtest was supposed to be held this month but was canceled because of the state of the game.
The problem is Skull & Bones can’t have much more time in development thanks to an existing government subsidy agreement. Ubisoft Singapore is subsidized by the government for hiring and training new developers. One of the terms for this subsidy is that the studio must launch a game from an original new IP in the next few years after the agreement is signed, and Skull & Bones is running out of time. While the current version of the game may only have been started at the end of 2020 after a second reboot, the game has actually been in development since 2013 and the ten-year period of that agreement is likely coming to an end in 2023, if not later this year.
As Gach said, the game “is coming either way”. Most will just be happy if we don’t have another Cyberpunk 2077 situation, but things don’t sound too encouraging. Skull & Bones certainly sounds like it needs more time in development.
In other news, the Fall Guys Crown Clash challenges offer rewards for Fortnite and Rocket League. Elsewhere, the Nintendo Direct Mini featured more than 20 games including NieR:Automata and the Persona franchise.
