[ad_1]
If you take a look at our Skull & Bones tag on RPS, it’s clear that the upcoming pirate game has had its fair share of issues. He suffered four delays, the removal of a CEO and a change of vision, and so far one could only wonder what was really going on behind the scenes. But now, a new report tells of eight years of difficult development at Ubisoft’s Singapore studio: from mismanagement and creative vision issues to a deal with the Singapore government promising to release the game.
In a lengthy report from Kotaku, a number of current and former anonymous Ubisoft employees spoke of tumultuous development on a game that eight years later is still not taking shape. In 2013, Skull & Bones began life as an expansion for Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag, before becoming an MMO-like spin-off Black Flag Infinite, and then eventually the ongoing potential live-service pirate game. Creation.
“If Skull & Bones were with a competitor, they would have been killed 10 times already,” a former developer told Kotaku.
The game has reportedly exceeded all of its budgets and cost Ubisoft more than $ 120 million so far – a number that is only growing as more developers get involved to help launch the game. game. Three sources told Kotaku that the game cannot even be discontinued due to a deal with the Singapore government. It demands that Ubisoft Singapore launch original games in the next few years in order to receive grants.
The seemingly endless production seems to have taken its toll on the developers, with the current developers hoping that they can avoid a fate similar to that of games like BioWare’s Anthem, but at the same time they are desperate to move on to something new.
“When a project drags on for more than a few years, your initial assumptions are no longer valid,” said a former developer. “The technology was advancing, and pretty quickly you want better visuals. And then you realize that some of your assets don’t match… and the more you start to change, the more obsolete the parts become.”
As development continued over the years, several developers spoke of an “exodus” of staff leaving the studio, with one saying, “People were learning about the project, seeing how it worked and everything around it, then left. It was constant. ”
In response to questions from Kotaku, Ubisoft issued a statement saying, “The Skull & Bones team are proud of the work they have done on the project since its last update with production exceeding just Alpha, and are delighted to share more details when the time is right. ”
At this point, it looks like the “right time” for Skull & Bones has already passed. I highly recommend reading Kotaku’s full report to get the big picture.
[ad_2]
Source link