HomeNewsSkull and Bones
Ubisoft’s Skull & Bones has suffered eight years of troubled developmentA lengthy Kotaku report details current and former staff’s difficulties at the Singapore studio
A lengthy Kotaku report details current and former staff’s difficulties at the Singapore studio
If you take a look at ourSkull & Bonestag on RPS, it’s clear the ever-upcomingpirate gamehas had its fair share of troubles.It’s suffered four delays,the removal of a managing directoranda change in vision, and until now we could only wonder what was really happening behind the scenes. But now a new report tells of eight years of rocky development at Ubisoft’s Singapore studio: from mismanagement and issues with creative vision, to a deal with the Singapore government promising to release the game.
“If Skull & Bones were at a competitor it would have been killed 10 times already,” one former developer told Kotaku.
Skull & Bones: E3 2018 The Hunting Grounds | Gameplay Walkthrough | Ubisoft [NA]Watch on YouTube
Skull & Bones: E3 2018 The Hunting Grounds | Gameplay Walkthrough | Ubisoft [NA]
The game has reportedly blown through all its budgets, and cost Ubisoft over $120 million so far - a number that’s only increasing as more devs pitch in to help ship the game. Three sources told Kotaku that the game can’t even be scrapped because of a deal with the Singapore government. It requires that Ubisoft Singapore launch original games in the next few years in order to receive subsidy payments.
The seemingly never-ending production seems to have taken its toll on developers, with current devs hoping that they can avoid a similar fate to games like BioWare’s Anthem, but at the same time they desperately want to move on to something new.
“When a project drags for more than a couple years, your initial assumptions are no longer valid,” a former dev said. “Technology was moving forward, and pretty soon you want better visuals. And then you realize that some of your assets don’t fit anymore… and the more and more you start to change, the more parts become obsolete.”
It’s a wonder how different the game looks now compared to what Adam Smith played duringan early preview four years ago.
As development continued over the years, multiple developers spoke of an “exodus” of staff leaving the studio, with one person claiming: “People would learn about the project, see how it works and everything around it, and then leave. It was constant.”
In response to questions from Kotaku, Ubisoft gave a statement saying: “The Skull & Bones team are proud of the work they’ve accomplished on the project since their last update with production just passing Alpha, and are excited to share more details when the time is right.”
At this point, it seems as though the “right time” for Skull & Bones may have already been and gone. I highly recommend readingKotaku’s full reportto get the bigger picture.
