Skull and Bones has spent years in development hell, seen more than a few significant issues, and been delayed more times than many might care to count at this point, but when Ubisoft finally re-revealed the pirate title earlier this year and handed it a November launch date, the expectation for many was that it would finally launch on schedule- or its new schedule, if nothing else.
You can never bet against delays though, especially for games as troubled as this one. Ubisoft has announced that Skull and Bones’ launch is being pushed back yet again (this is the fifth delay, for those who care to keep track), and instead of November, it will now launch in March 2023.
“Our team is hard at work polishing and balancing the experience ahead of the worldwide launch,” the company writes. “As a result, we’ve made the tough decision to move our release date to March 9, 2023. We’re very eager for you all to get your hands on Skull and Bones and dive in headfirst to the dangerous and exciting world of building your own pirate empire. To give you the best possible experience we’ve decided to take a little more time to make sure we can deliver exactly that.”
That said, Ubisoft has also announced that an open beta of Skull and Bones will be coming soon, details for which are expected in the near future.
“For the most eager of you, we are also very happy to announce that we will hold an open beta of the game in the near future,” Ubisoft says. “We’ll share more news on how you can sign up to register soon, so keep your spyglasses trained on our social media for more news and announcements.”
The reaction to Skull and Bones in all that Ubisoft has shown of it over the last couple of months (and it’s shown plenty) hasn’t been the most ecstatic, and that lukewarm reception has only been worsened by reports that even the game’s own developers aren’t thrilled about the state of the project. As per reports, Ubisoft is pushing the launch of Skull and Bones in spite of behind-the-scenes issues because it has to fulfil subsidy agreement with the Singapore government.
Skull and Bones is now expected to launch on March 9, 2023 for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC, Stadia, and Amazon Luna.