![]() ![]() “It’s a classic case of mismanagement for eight years,” said one former developer in the same Kotaku article. Nothing seems to be headed in the right direction, however. The other reason can be attributed to the game’s shift to a live service approach that proves to be an important and lucrative part of Ubisoft’s portfolio in recent times. The company, in exchange for generous subsidies, is required to hit a certain hiring quota and launch original IPs in the next few years, making it imperative that the title gets shipped by hook or by crook – final look notwithstanding. The worst part of this development hell? The project has to be completed, courtesy of an agreement with the Singapore government.Īccording to a report by Kotaku, Skull & Bones cannot be scrapped as part of a deal with the authorities. Originally slated for launch in late 2018, the game has since undergone four delays in three years – sometime in 2019, after March 2020, before March 2020, and now March 2023 – which is already a huge, huge red flag. ![]() Given its current state of affairs, the company will need most, if not all of those, to be hits.Ubisoft Singapore first rose to prominence with their water tech prowess in the Assassin’s Creed franchise, so it wasn’t surprising news that the studio had been tapped to work on an original title involving pirate ships, sea battles, and of course, water and waves for miles.īut what started out as a pipe dream would soon become the nightmare of developers, as Skull & Bones continues to stumble into its eighth year of development with little to show. Other unannounced premium games are in the pipeline for the next fiscal year, including "a large one." Free-to-play titles for some of Ubisoft's biggest brands are in the works too. Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is slated to arrive by the end of March 2024 as well. It's also aiming to reduce costs by over €200 million ($215 million) in the next two years through "targeted restructuring, divesting some non-core assets and usual natural attrition." However, it plans to keep hiring "highly talented people" for its major projects.Īside from Skull and Bones, perhaps the biggest title Ubisoft currently has on the docket for this year is Assassin's Creed Mirage. The company is depreciating €500 million ($538 million) in research and development on the canceled games, as well as its upcoming premium and free-to-play titles. Going forward, Ubisoft is tightening its belt and will focus on fewer games. All told, Ubisoft has reduced its estimated operating income for this year by around $1 billion. Previously, the company expected that those revenues would increase by 10 percent. ![]() Ubisoft expects its net bookings to fall by 10 percent for the year. "We are facing contrasted market dynamics as the industry continues to shift towards mega-brands and everlasting live games, in the context of worsening economic conditions affecting consumer spending," CEO Yves Guillemot said. Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope and Just Dance 2023 didn't perform as well as the company expected. ![]() Meanwhile, the company lowered its financial projections target for the October-December quarter from around €830 million ($891 million) to approximately €725 million ($779 million). We have decided to postpone its release in order to have more time to showcase a much more polished and balanced experience and to build awareness." "We believe players will be positively surprised by its evolution. The additional time has already paid off and brought impressive improvements to its quality, which has been confirmed by recent playtests," Ubisoft said in a financial statement. "Players will be able to discover the beauty of Skull and Bones in the upcoming beta phase. This is the sixth publicly announced delay of Skull and Bones. The pirate sim was supposed to finally emerge on March 9th, but Ubisoft has delayed it until the early part of its 2023-24 fiscal year, which starts in April. Not only that, the company has announced yet another delay for Skull and Bones - a game we first tried all the way back at E3 2017. The publisher has canceled another three games, following the four titles it killed last summer. Things aren't exactly going smoothly over at Ubisoft. ![]()
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