Ubisoft's open world pirate game Skull and Bones delayed, won't be at E3

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April 2020 is now the soonest we can expect to see it, but there's currently no date set.

Skull and Bones
(Image credit: Ubisoft)

Skull and Bones, the open world pirate game Ubisoft unveiled at E3 2017, has suffered another pushback. The company said in its full-year 2018-19 earnings statement that the game, which was delayed last year into the 2019-20 fiscal year, has now been pushed to sometime after that. 

There's nothing more specific to go on—"The release of Skull and Bones has been postponed to after 2019-20" is the full statement—and that far-off open-endedness (Ubi's 2019-20 fiscal year will conclude at the end of March 2020) is worrying for a project that was showing off gameplay two years ago. The Skull and Bones Twitter account wasn't much more helpful, although it did confirm in various tweets that there are currently no target dates for beta testing or release. 

"Our first goal is to make Skull and Bones awesome for our players. We believe in our vision for the game, while also making sure the voice of our community is being heard," Ubisoft tweeted. "As soon as we're ready to share more, we'll do so."

Chris took Skull and Bones for a spin at E3 last year and found it far more combat-focused than Sea of Thieves, his then-and-still seadog sim of choice, but also very promising: There were still a lot of blanks to be filled in, particularly about non-combat activities, but the naval combat "is just as much fun as it was in Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed games." (And in case it's not clear, he thinks naval combat in Black Flag and Origins is a lot of fun.)

Ubisoft also said that Skull and Bones will not appear at E3 this year. 

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Andy Chalk
Andy Chalk
US News Lead

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.