"The Ship Sank Before It Set Sail": Why Skull and Bones Became a Symbol of Ubisoft's Failures

"The Ship Sank Before Launch": Why Skull and Bones Became a Symbol of Ubisoft's Failures

Among all of Ubisoft's high-profile failures, Skull and Bones holds a special place. The game, which took the best from Assassin's Creed 3 and Black Flag, was thrown into the furnace of a dubious service-based approach. Ten years of development, endless delays, wavering between an expansion and a spin-off and back again—all without a single coherent vision. And the final chord: a $70 price tag for a "triple-A game," as the company's CEO called it. No one believed him.

Alex Hutchinson, creative director of Far Cry 4 and Assassin's Creed 3, left Ubisoft long before this whole story. But he watched it with a particular feeling. It was his team that came up with the naval battles that later became the hallmark of Black Flag and then the foundation for Skull and Bones. "It was strange to see the same content being re-released 14 years later," he admits. According to him, ideas have an expiration date. By the time Skull and Bones was released, the concept was outdated.

The Singapore team, which grew to 300 people, tried to cross Black Flag with World of Warships but had experience in neither. Previously, the studio was engaged in supporting main projects, and senior colleagues from Canada and France visited there more on business-vacation trips than for serious mentoring.

The result is predictable: the game was released into a world oversaturated with service projects and got lost. What seemed fresh in 2013 turned into routine. It's surprising that Ubisoft still supports Skull and Bones, but most likely, its days are numbered.