If you guessed that Ubisoft has once again delayed Skull and Bones, you win the prize! That prize being even more time to wait for this high seas piracy game to be released. In January 2023, Ubisoft said that Skull and Bones would be out in fiscal year 2023-2024, which runs from April 2023 - March 2024. More recently, the studio said that Skull and Bones would be out prior to FYQ4, or before the end of the year. Now, the game has slipped into a FYQ4 (January - March 2024) release at the earliest.
Not only has the release date for Skull and Bones shifted yet again, but word is that another "large game" has also been delayed at Ubisoft. This undisclosed "large game" was expected to be out prior to the end of their current fiscal year, or before March 31, 2024. Now, that "large game" has shifted to fiscal year 2024-2025 for Ubisoft.
While Ubisoft did not disclose what this "large game" was that was delayed alongside Skull and Bones, there are some pretty good theories out there. The most believable assumption for the "large game" in question is Ubisoft Massive's Star Wars Outlaws. This assumption seems quite plausible given prior reporting by Ethan Gach at Kotaku.
Ubisoft seems to be framing this delay of the "large game" or Star Wars Outlaws as a good thing. They say that their financials have seen "overperformance in Q2" and that their current brands are experiencing "positive momentum." This means that Ubisoft feels they can hit their financial goals for their current fiscal year without having to rush out this "large game."
Ubisoft releases in 2023 include The Crew Motorfest and Assassin's Creed Mirage. Ubisoft says that sales of Mirage are "in line with Assassin's Creed Origins and Assassin's Creed Odyssey." Meanwhile, The Crew Motorfest saw "franchise record unit sell through" in addition to high adoption rate on that game's season pass. The studio still has Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora coming out on December 7.
Things aren't all rainbows and sunshine at Ubisoft. The company announced that they have reduced the number of employees by over 1,000 when compared to the same time last year. This figure comes from a mix of voluntary departures, layoffs, and not hiring for newly vacant positions.
