The director of the first Assassin's Creed with naval battles found it 'bizarre' to watch Skull and Bones' agonisingly long development, because it was 'essentially the same stuff re-shipping 14 years after we made it'

Of all Ubisoft's follies, Skull and Bones feels like one of the most significant—a game that took the best parts of Assassin's Creed 3 and Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag, and just stuck them in a dodgy live service treadmill.

It took a decade to make, seemed to be perpetually delayed, and just kept changing. It started out as a Black Flag expansion, then a Black Flag MMO spin-off, then something entirely unrelated to Assassin's Creed. It was a huge mess, had no vision, and Ubisoft still charged $70 for it.

"Ideas have a window, and that's another reason we're trying to do things faster this time," he says. "They age out and become stale. I think the team was junior. They were trying to essentially make Black Flag crossed with World of Tanks or World of Warships. But I don't think they had experience in that. And then they didn't really have experience in making even an Assassin's Creed game down there, because they really did co-development. And then I think it just got away from them."

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Fraser is the UK online editor and has actually met The Internet in person. With over a decade of experience, he's been around the block a few times, serving as a freelancer, news editor and prolific reviewer. Strategy games have been a 30-year-long obsession, from tiny RTSs to sprawling political sims, and he never turns down the chance to rave about Total War or Crusader Kings. He's also been known to set up shop in the latest MMO and likes to wind down with an endlessly deep, systemic RPG. These days, when he's not editing, he can usually be found writing features that are 1,000 words too long or talking about his dog.

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Jeremy PeelContributor

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