Ubisoft’s highly anticipated pirate adventure game Skull and Bones is facing another delay. The game, which was first announced in 2017, experienced many disruptions during its development. The latest delay, revealed in Ubisoft’s earnings report for the first half of the 2023-24 fiscal year, indicates that the game’s release will be delayed again

Skull and Bones postponed to early 2024

The decision to postpone was made to provide a more refined and balanced gaming experience and to raise awareness about the game. Although a closed beta has been conducted for Skull and Bones, an updated release date has not been announced. Now, Ubisoft has stated a release date within the January-March 2024 time frame, without giving a specific reason for the delay.

In addition, a mysterious “big game” that was originally planned to be released before the end of the current fiscal year in March 2024 has also been postponed. This game, which is likely to be Massive Entertainment’s Star Wars: Outlaws, is expected to be released after April in Ubisoft’s next fiscal year.

Ubisoft’s remaining release schedule for the current fiscal year includes games like Assassin’s Creed Nexus VR, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, Just Dance 2024, Prince of Persia The Lost Crown, and Skull and Bones. Additionally, free-to-play games Rainbow Six Mobile, The Division Resurgence, and XDefiant will be released before March 31, 2024.

In terms of operational changes, Ubisoft has addressed a “cost reduction plan” introduced as part of a targeted restructuring initiative following disappointing financial results earlier in the year.

The company reported that more than 1,300 employees would be laid off globally between September 2022 and September 2023, but the breakdown between departures and layoffs was not specified.

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot expressed satisfaction with the sales performance of recently released games, including Assassin’s Creed Mirage and The Crew Motorfest.

Guillemot also stated that the cloud broadcasting rights agreement with Activision Blizzard was completed and that he signed this agreement to address the concerns of UK regulators regarding Microsoft’s $69 billion acquisition of Activision.