Skull & Bones has lost a co-director.
First reported by Video Games Chronicle, Antoine Henry recently revealed on LinkedIn that he’s departing from Ubisoft after working for nearly 15 years at the company. Henry says he’s onto “new exciting adventures” very soon, which is great. Still, his departure from the company’s Singapore studio serves as yet another loss for the Skull & Bones team, which has seemingly struggled to make any headway since its 2017 reveal.
Game Informer chronicled Skull & Bones’ journey through development hell recently in Part 1 of our Video Games Stuck In Development Hell series (here’s Part 2 and Part 3 if you’re curious for more). In short, this nautical game was last seen by the public in 2018 – we went hands-on with it that year. There was even a beta players were able to sign up for that year. Of course, nobody got to play said beta, but the fact that such a thing existed proves Ubisoft was feeling quite confident in the title at some point in its history.
In May of 2019, it was delayed to 2020, and when it slipped past that year, Ubisoft announced in 2021 that Skull & Bones was scheduled for release sometime between April 2022 and March 2023. We learned last year that it was finally in Alpha, but that getting to that point was quite difficult, and now, the world (okay, maybe not the world, but I’m very excited to see what this game is, at least) awaits its next reveal.
It’s important to note that Henry’s departure from Ubisoft doesn’t necessarily paint a bleak picture of Skull & Bones’ development hell gallery. Sometimes, developers leave titles after their work on it is complete – perhaps Henry’s work on Skull & Bones is done, and, feeling confident enough that the team can get it finished for release, he decided to leave. However, with such a troubled development history, it’s hard not to look at this news cynically as proof that Skull & Bones is still in the throes of trouble.
While waiting to learn more, check out this New Gameplay Today segment from 2018. If you’re looking for a different pirate adventure, check out Rare’s Sea of Thieves, which received a massive Pirates of the Caribbean-themed expansion last year.
[Source: Video Games Chronicle]
Are you excited to one day (maybe) play Skull & Bones? Let us know in the comments below!
