Skull and Bones, that Ubisoft pirate game you'd forgotten about, is getting delayed

Pirate fanciers and aspiring swashbucklers have been busy with Sea of Thieves lately, so it's easy to forget that at E3 2017 Ubisoft unveiled Skull and Bones, its own take on seafaring shenanigans. Unfortunately, our first update in a while about the project is that it's been delayed until at least 2019.

In its financial report today, Ubisoft said it "has decided to give itself more time to develop Skull and Bones to offer players an even more engaging experience. Skull and Bones is now scheduled for release in 2019-20."

Ubisoft Singapore is the lead studio on the game, which owes more than a little to the rollicking naval battles that made Assassin's Creed: Black Flag such a standout for the series.

"Today we announced that Skull and Bones will release later than we initially anticipated," says creative director Justin A. Farren. "Here in Singapore, this is our biggest game yet, and it is a project filled with immense passion. Many of us have been working on it for the last few years, and want to make this game right in order to achieve our ambition to deliver the ultimate pirate game set to thrill players at launch and for years to come."

The good news is that some of that hard work will be on show at E3 2018 next month, so we'll get to see what life on the ocean waves really feels like.

"Our goal remains as clear as ever: build a shared systemic open ocean that captures the essence of the pirate fantasy and is full of activities," continues Farren. "We aspire to create a game where the act of attacking and robbing ships at sea -- and where every single decision you make -- requires you to carefully assess the risk versus reward."

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