Internally, the developer couldn't decide whether Skull and Bones was going to be a survival game in a similar vein to the likes of Rust and Raft, or whether it would be a strictly naval combat and exploration game. Skull and Bones' gameplay mechanics also saw a great deal of changes during the game's first few years of development. The game's setting was a key point of change in development, going from an Assassin's Creed-inspired Caribbean, to the fantastical, Greek mythology-inspired world of Hyperborea, to the Indian Ocean. According to a report by Kotaku, just about every element of the game saw a plethora of changes, from the game's general direction, to its characters, and its scope. Renamed Skull and Bones, the game underwent a variety of different iterations over the years. A bit into development, the project switched gears, becoming its own entity entirely separate of the Assassin's Creed license. At the time, the plan was to take the critically-acclaimed naval battles from Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag and turn them into a fully-fledged MMO spin-off. Skull and Bones' Unfortunate DevelopmentĪllegedly, Skull and Bones first began development all the way back in 2013, almost a decade ago. RELATED: Skull and Bones Director Reveals How Many Ships Will Be Available at Launch Ubisoft has re-revealed the game, and Skull and Bones does look in a much better position, but there's one key element that might spell the game's disaster before it even hits store shelves: its release date. Development on Skull and Bones has been notoriously rough, with a few Kotaku reports over the years expressing just how far behind the project was from releasing. Originally announced all the way back in 2017 during Ubisoft's E3 showcase, Skull and Bones is from developer Ubisoft Singapore. In the past, Ubisoft has had a pretty solid track record of announcing a game, letting have a year or two in development, and then releasing it right on time, but there are always outliers, and Ubisoft's pirate-themed adventure Skull and Bones is certainly one of those. Though its microtransaction practices are sometimes fairly egregious, and the Ubisoft open-world formula has reached the peak of saturation, Ubisoft still manages to pump out AAA experiences that, at their very worst, are absolutely fine games. It’s slated for release on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC, Amazon Luna, and Stadia, while Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope will be releasing exclusively for Nintendo Switch.Ubisoft has its issues as a video game publisher, but it's far from being the worst out there. While we’ve currently seen nothing more than a cinematic teaser for Frontiers of Pandora, it’s worth noting that the title has been in development since as early as March 2017. Meanwhile, Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora were already slated for 2022, with the latter likely releasing sometime this winter to capitalise on the new movie, despite being a standalone story within the universe. The title is still slated to release for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC, but it wouldn’t be surprising to see it also eventually being announced for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. Kotaku reported last year that the lengthy development cycle was due to a string of directorial changes. Skull and Bones was originally revealed as far back as Ubisoft’s 2017 E3 press conference, and last publicly seen at the publisher’s 2018 E3 event.
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