As we’ve said and hinted at previously, Ubisoft’s Skull & Bones is still in development and is probably going to be delayed for an unforeseeable amount of time. Time to change “probably” to “definitely” though as we now have an official statement.

Ubisoft and its Singapore branch announced that its online action game will be delayed and will be presented in public “sometime in the future”. The game will also not be featured on 10th September’s Ubisoft Forward event. The reason? The company needed more time to develop the game. It also may have to do with the fact that its previous creative director Justin Farren left the company mid-project. The project is currently under creative director Elisabeth Pellen.

Full statement below. We hope to see this game eventually seeing the light of day; modernized pirate games should make a comeback if games like Sea of Thieves is of any indication, especially if the game may be tailored for next-gen use. Doesn’t change the fact that Ubisoft is, well, knee-deep with its own problems.  

First and foremost, thank you to our fans for showing tremendous patience. We know you’ve been waiting for news, so I’m thrilled to confirm this: production on Skull & Bones has been in full swing with a new vision. Our teams at Ubisoft Singapore are fully committed to launching the game, as well as supporting it for many years to come. While our game won’t be present at Ubisoft Forward on September 10, we’re currently working on plans to present Skull & Bones sometime in the future. It will be worth the wait.

Many of you have been wondering why we’ve had to postpone our launch. The answer is that we simply needed more time. We dreamt something bigger for Skull & Bones, and these ambitions naturally came with bigger challenges.

These difficulties resulted in necessary delays for our game. Critical questions needed to be addressed over the past several months such as: how do we modernize the classic pirate fantasy? How do we ensure a more immersive and visceral experience? How do we create cool and memorable moments in-game? For most of these questions to be answered, it was clear that we needed more development time.

As Skull & Bones evolved from its original idea to what it is now, it was also necessary to have some fresh eyes join the team. I was one of those people when I joined as Skull & Bones’ creative director a little over two years ago. I have been part of the game’s core team that leads many of the talented developers at Ubisoft Singapore. Since then, many new talents have joined our global crew.

From our teams in Ubisoft Berlin, Chengdu, Kiev, Paris and the Philippines, it is truly a team effort. The dedication and passion of our developers continue to fuel our drive to make Skull & Bones something all of us can be proud of. Our confidence in each other’s talents is what motivates us to push Skull & Bones towards the finish line and beyond.

We’re proud of the work we’ve done and we hope you will be too when you see more of Skull & Bones at our comeback next year. Until then, on behalf of everyone in the Skull & Bones team around the world, keep safe and we will see you again soon!

• Elisabeth Pellen, Creative Director