Skull and Bones Delayed for the Fifth Time

Skull & Bones, Ubisoft's pirate battler that's been in development limbo for years now, has been delayed yet again. This is the fifth time.

In a press release today, Ubisoft has given a new release date of March 9, 2023, allowing Skull & Bones to sneak in just ahead of the end of its financial year. The publisher explained in the release that while "game development is finished at this stage," the extra four months will be used to "further polish and balance the experience" following technical tests and Insider Program feedback from prior closed betas.

Skull & Bones' development has been a tumultuous ride. It was first revealed back at E3 2017, appearing at the time to be a riff off of the naval combat in Assassin's Creed: Black Flag. At the time, it was set to come out in fall of 2018, and focused on prior-gen consoles.

Its first delay was announced the following year, pushing Skull & Bones back to "2019-20". When it didn't surface for sometime after, reports suggested that it had been quietly rebooted. It was delayed a second time to 2020, and then again to 2021. In the meantime, further reports alleged a toxic work culture at developer Ubisoft Singapore amidst wider accusations of a hostile work environment company-wide.

Skull & Bones was later delayed into 2022-2023, and then given a November 8 release date, which is what we've expected up to now. We also learned earlier this month that it will be the first of Ubisoft's published games to retail at a $70 price point.

Assuming we don't get a sixth delay, Skull & Bones is coming to Xbox Series X and S, PS5, Google Stadia, Amazon Luna, and PC, with Ubisoft+ users on PC, Stadia, and Luna getting the game day one as part of the service. Ubisoft will be holding an open beta sometime before release.

Rebekah Valentine is a news reporter for IGN. You can find her on Twitter @duckvalentine.