Ubisoft reboots Skull & Bones and turns it into a live storytelling game
Ubisoft gives Skull & Bones a different twist, VGC sources report. Announced in 2017 and much-delayed, the game is getting a reboot and will feature a live-game model, with stories that dynamically change based on player actions.
According to developer sources who wish to remain anonymous, Skull & Bones struggled to stand out among Ubisoft’s existing portfolio of open-world games, including Assassin’s Creed, The Division, and Watch Dogs. It would not have succeeded in giving the open world pirate game a unique position. Ubisoft’s responsible development studio in Singapore has tried to refine the concept, which would have led to successive delays, said VGC. Ubisoft declined to comment on the website’s reporting.
There is no new information about a release period; the latest information comes from October last year, when Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot indicated that the title would not be released any time after April 2020. He said that will be postponed for a year. Guillemot said the game is a “big product” for Ubisoft, that it has great potential and that his company wants to release it “at a level that will amaze players and delight them for the long haul.”
According to VGC’s information, Skull & Bones is moving towards a live game model with a continuous game world. The quests, characters and storylines will gradually evolve depending on the collective actions of the players. That is a model that differs from, for example, The Division 2. This game, for example, receives regular updates, but contains a world with relatively static content and stories that do not really change.
According to a source, the social aspects and live storytelling aspects of Fortnite have had a significant influence on the new direction of Skull & Bones. The renewed Skull & Bones would put a stronger emphasis on collaboration, with which Ubisoft would also like to target an audience other than fans of competitive action games, who would play the other Ubisoft titles, for example.
Skull & Bones was unveiled in June 2017 at the E3 trade show in Los Angeles. The game was then presented as a kind of further development of the sea combat from Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag. The game would take place on the Indian Ocean, in the year 1712, where pirates want to plunder the lucrative Indian trade routes through sea battles. It was said back then that the world of Skull & Bones evolves and reacts to player actions.