General Gaming Skull & Bones (9 March 2023) OT - A Pirate's Life for Me (Update: Re-delayed)

[Pikachu]

 

[AbsolutSurgen]

I hadn't heard that a release date was ever announced...

 

But not surprised, I don't know how they make a compelling multi-player game out of the AC ship combat.

[XxEvil AshxX]

Graphical differences aside, I can't help but wonder what differences this game could have from Sea of Thieves. By the time this game comes out, Sea of Thieves will have had, like, two years of patches and additions. Perhaps Ubisoft is hoping that SoT will have run its course by then.

[JosephManderley]

They need to delay it to add Link & co for the Windwaker cross-over....

[atom631]

This is the game that takes place on on the ships, right? you cant get off and explore islands and such? 

 

such a shame. We really need a Rockstar-style pirate game. The best parts of AC: Black Flag was just sailing around exploring. 

[Mercury33]

1 hour ago, atom631 said:

This is the game that takes place on on the ships, right? you cant get off and explore islands and such? 

 

such a shame. We really need a Rockstar-style pirate game. The best parts of AC: Black Flag was just sailing around exploring. 

 

The last demo they had they talked about how you’d get an island to be your home base that you could upgrade. They also mentioned you do have the ability to get off your ship and walk around. I don’t remember if they said exploring was part of it but you can get off sometimes. 

[Emblazon]

Woah, there's a big difference between "the game's release date has been delayed" and "we won't be at E3 this year". Sounds like we won't be seeing this game anytime soon. 

[Keyser_Soze]

8 hours ago, XxEvil AshxX said:

Graphical differences aside, I can't help but wonder what differences this game could have from Sea of Thieves. By the time this game comes out, Sea of Thieves will have had, like, two years of patches and additions. Perhaps Ubisoft is hoping that SoT will have run its course by then.

 

I dunno after shunning it for life Giant Bomb got back into it thanks to the "story mode" thing they added and were even eager to play some more.

[crispy4000]

 

[stepee]

damn that THREE YEARS LATER bump

 

[crispy4000]

6 minutes ago, stepee said:

damn that THREE YEARS LATER bump

 

 

I'm surprised there even was a thread to bump, lol.  Thought it would have died when the boards got nuked.

[stepee]

This game saved one of my favorite franchises for me at least by diverting all the ship stuff I hate to this forever project and massively cutting back on it within the main AC games.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

This game isn't just coming in "hot", it's coming in completely ablaze:

 

First It Was An Assassin's Creed Expansion, Now It's Ubisoft's 8 Year Nightmare

KOTAKU.COM

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Inside Ubisoft Singapore’s struggle to ship Skull & Bones

 

 

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But interviews with more than 20 current and former Ubisoft developers, as well as those with knowledge of the game, its troubled development, and the studio leading production on it, tell a different story. Skull & Bones never had a clear creative vision behind it, suffered from too many managers vying for power, and was plagued by almost annual reboots and mini-refreshes, they said. Years into development basic questions around the game’s core design still haven’t been nailed down, even as ambitions for the would-be game-as-a-service continue to mount within Ubisoft’s head Paris office

 

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Nearly eight years after it was first conceived, Skull & Bones has blown through its initial budgets. According to three sources, the project has already cost Ubisoft more than $120 million, with that number continuing to balloon as hundreds of developers from other Ubisoft studios continue pitching in to try to ship the game without any more delays.

 

Quote

Skull & Bones has been a lot of things in the years since it entered pre-production, developers told Kotaku. At one point, it was set in the Caribbean. Later, it moved to the Indian Ocean. One version was inspired by Sid Meier’s Pirates! and played out in a fantastical world called Hyperborea through branching multiplayer campaigns that lasted weeks. Another revolved around an elaborate floating base called Libertalia—a “cathedral on water,” as one developer described it—inspired by the mythical pirate colony of the same name. Most of these ideas never made it past the prototyping phase but still managed to take up an increasing amount of the Singapore studio’s time as developers reworked designs and concepts for a game whose core premise appeared to change with the wind.

 

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By 2017, the studio tried to reign in its ambitions to focus on ship combat, and Skull & Bones was once again reborn, this time as a session-based shooter modeled after Rainbow Six Siege but with boats. This was the version that was revealed at E3 2017, but Ubisoft wasn’t ready to ditch dreams of a grander pirate exploration game just yet. It would still need a world and quests beyond a monetizable PVP grind. So in 2018, Skull & Bones returned to E3 with a PVE free roam mode called “Hunting Grounds.” Here, similar to The Division’s “Dark Zones,” players could loot hideouts, fight one another, or work together to take on more powerful AI opponents.

 

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But this version of the game would eventually get scrapped too, and by 2019, survival games like Rust and Ark: Survival Evolved became Skull & Bones’ new guiding stars. In addition to the sailing, fighting, and looting, there would be resource management elements like crafting and trading. There would also be harsher stakes for dying, adding a roguelike-lite edge to the pirate fantasy. It was a particularly messy change in direction, according to five current and former developers. The project’s existing engine tools were ill-equipped to take players exploring on land for resources, and the additional layers of inventory were a pain to try to implement, they said.

 

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By 2020, direction had shifted yet again, four current and former developers told Kotaku. The latest build of Skull & Bones will be different still, though many remain unsure what shape the finished game will ultimately take. It’s not just that it isn’t close to the finish line yet; it’s still not even clear where the finish line is.

 

[Mercury33]

I’m day one with this just on principal lol

[crispy4000]

Starts in 10 min.

[Pikachu]

 

[crispy4000]

Ubisoft open world games always look so boring to me.  I'm sure someone out there would dig this on first glance, but it's not my cup of tea.

[Mercury33]

I didn’t watch enough to see the features but I LOVED the ship combat and upgrading in Black Flag so as long as those are the same or improved upon im sure I’ll at least like this. 

[Dre801]

I'll probably skip this one.

[Keyser_Soze]

Long Live Piracy!

 

 

[Mercury33]

1 hour ago, Keyser_Soze said:

Long Live Piracy!

 

 

Looks pretty fun to me

[Pikachu]

Skull And Bones Release Date Update

NEWS.UBISOFT.COM

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The Skull and Bones team announces a change to the launch schedule of the game and gives more details on how you can get hands-on with the upcoming pirate adventure.

 

[Keyser_Soze]

 

Just in time for my birthday again but I don't think I'll ask @Mr.Vic20 for this one.

[stepee]

oh man this game is going to be an interesting launch, I’m more excited to witness it’s rollout than the game itself

[Mercury33]

Was set to release within a couple days of God of War. Probably a good idea to push it. 

[XxEvil AshxX]

This game will appeal to a very small niche audience. Ubi will be surprised it doesn't sell 10 million copies.

[Mercury33]

Well For Honor is still going and still being supported really well. I’m getting similar vibes for this game. 

[crispy4000]

 

[AbsolutSurgen]

This looks terrible. 
 

if Ubi kept this, but cancelled other games. How bad were they?

[eventide11]

So this is basically just an expansion to Assassin's Creed Black Flag 

[Keyser_Soze]

5 hours ago, eventide11 said:

So this is basically just an expansion to Assassin's Creed Black Flag 

 

Well it was announced right after Black Flag thanks to the popularity of the naval combat in that game. That's how long this game has been in development.

[DPCyric]

On 1/14/2023 at 6:38 AM, AbsolutSurgen said:

This looks terrible. 
 

if Ubi kept this, but cancelled other games. How bad were they?

 

They kept this because they only get the tax breaks from Singapore if it actually releases.

[AbsolutSurgen]

https://news.ubisoft.com/en-us/article/4kihD5XL6Uvzu7njpvvccq/skull-and-bones-closed-beta-date-revealed

Quote

Skull and Bones will launch a Closed Beta on August 25, giving players who register via the official site a chance to experience the multiplayer pirate open-world game first-hand as the team continues to work toward release this fiscal year. To find out more about the Closed Beta, we spoke with the game's Senior Producer Neven Dravinski from Ubisoft Singapore about the announcement at Ubisoft Forward 2023 and what's in store for players this August

 

[crispy4000]