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After eight years of reported development, Ubisoft’s Skull & Bones has hit alpha (a term commonly used to refer to when the game is in a playable state, even though the assets are not full). A new report appears to lay bare just how many issues it faces in getting to this point – from starting its life as an Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag expansion, until only surviving due to an agreement with the government of Singapore.
Responding to a lengthy report from Kotaku, a spokesperson for Ubisoft told the post, “The Skull & Bones team are proud of the work they have done on the project since its last update with production. just surpassing Alpha, and is happy to share more details when the time is right. “
However, this project appears to have been deeply tumultuous. Anonymous sources from the developers of Kotaku say the game began as a planned multiplayer expansion for Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag, before evolving into an MMO spin-off called Black Flag Infinite. After that, the project would have been turned into a new intellectual property, Skull & Bones – but even Skull & Bones itself seems to have taken several different forms since then.
Kotaku’s sources say he’s been prototyped in multiple settings (the Caribbean, the Indian Ocean, and a fantasy world called Hyperborea), and he’s seen multiple play structures, including the multiplayer shooter based on a ship showcased at E3 2017, the PvE experience showcased at E3 2018, as well as tested with more survival experiences, roguelike elements and live service ideas. One idea apparently included a floating base described as a “cathedral on the water,” and the game switched between playing as a pirate and simply controlling a ship. The game’s final form is not yet clear, but the move to Alpha suggests that it now has an expected final form.
The multiple changes have reportedly seen hundreds of employees working toward certain goals and an estimated production cost of over $ 120 million. A Kotaku source explains that any other publisher would have canceled the game multiple times at this point – but others claim that an agreement between Ubisoft and the Singapore government forced the project to stay alive, with main Ubisoft Singapore studio being required to launch original games in the coming years in exchange for grant payments.
The difficult development process has reportedly led to an “exodus” of staff and an allegedly toxic work environment at Ubisoft Singapore. Kotaku’s report is definitely worth reading and has a lot more detail on the situation.
The last time we officially heard about Skull & Bones was that it was delayed again in June, after announcing a “new vision” in 2020. Despite the extended development, in 2019 Ubisoft announced that the game would get an adaptation of a TV show. .
Joe Skrebels is the executive editor of IGN News. Follow him on Twitter. Any advice to give us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to [email protected].
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