Ubisoft Delays Skull And Bones And An Upcoming "Large" Game

As part of Ubisoft's latest earnings briefing, the company announced that its long-in-development pirate game Skull And Bones has been delayed again and will now launch during the company's Q4 2023-24, which means it will launch in the January-March 2024 period.

Additionally, Ubisoft said one of its upcoming "large" games has been shifted to FY2024-2025, which means it will launch in April 2024 at the very soonest. Ubisoft didn't say what this game is.

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said in a statement, "We are excited to bring our future lineup to players, and to deliver on our strategy and continue reaching larger audiences and building an increasingly recurring business thanks to major brands and live services."

Previously, Skull And Bones was set for release during FY2024, meaning it was penciled in for release during the period of April 1, 2023-March 31, 2024. Now, Ubisoft has narrowed that window to between January and March of 2024.

The game is in development at Ubisoft Singapore with the help of Ubisoft's network of studios around the world. The game has been in development for years and years already and has reportedly undergone significant changes throughout development.

As part of the earnings update, Ubisoft said Assassin's Creed Mirage is "off to a solid start," but the company did not share any sales numbers. The number of players in the first week, though, was in line with the launches of Origins and Odyssey, Ubisoft said.

The Crew Motorfest, which launched on September 14, set a record for total unit sell-through, overall spending, and season pass adoption rate over its first week. Rainbow Six Siege, meanwhile, saw a "remarkable performance," Ubisoft said, with net bookings up almost 50% year-over-year.

Ubisoft added that its cost reduction plan was "well on track," and this included cutting about 1,000 staff. Ubisoft said it currently employs 19,410 people globally, down from 20,729 at the end of September 2022.

You can read Ubisoft's full earnings report here.