Ubisoft Delays Pirate Game Skull & Bones Out Of 2019

Remember Skull & Bones, the pirate simulator from Ubisoft that the company first unveiled at E3 2017? As it turns out, the game is still kicking around. It's still in development. Unfortunately, it's not coming out in 2019 any longer; Ubisoft just delayed the title out of this year entirely, with no replacement release window in sight. On top of that, the game won't have a presence at E3 this year, full stop.

And all Sea of Thieves could do was laugh.

You might recall that Sea of Thieves was unveiled at E3 just a year earlier than Skull & Bones in 2016. And by the time 2017 rolled around, Sea of Thieves still hadn't been released, and Skull & Bones looked ready to steal its thunder. After all, who would want to play that other cartoon-style pirate game when there was this more gritty one on the horizon? Who wouldn't prefer that more realistic swashbuckling over the kiddie stuff?

"I guess Sea of Thieves shouldn't have taken so long to come out," wrote one person. Another noted Sea of Thieves' delays and how the game was already "starting to look like a cheap version of Skull and Bones," adding, "I think there is a strong chance the game is canceled outright or becomes a sloppy budget title as they wash their hands of it."

Fast forward to the present day, and Sea of Thieves just recently launched a massive anniversary update, which itself followed a year of regular content drops. Skull & Bones, on the other hand, hasn't been seen much since its first showing at that E3 press conference. The trajectories of the two games could not be more different. Now Sea of Thieves looks like the more seaworthy vessel for all of your secret pirate fantasies. And Skull & Bones? Honestly, that looks more like the game that could get unceremoniously tossed overboard at this point.

For the time being, though, Skull & Bones lives. The team behind the title assures fans that they're "working as hard as ever to make sure the game is going to be as great as possible." But we'd love to know what the holdup is. Hopefully, we get a Jason Schreier-style deep dive behind the scenes someday so we can learn all about it. It must be a very interesting story.

We'll let you know if we hear more about a potential Skull & Bones release date.