Ubisoft has been struggling to ship out Skull and Bones. The game's been forced to dock several times already and it's in danger of being delayed out of 2023 entirely. As Skull and Bones finds itself in troubled waters once again, players are reporting that their pre-orders are being automatically refunded.
According to Ubisoft, the cause of the delay is that the vision for Skull and Bones has evolved beyond what was originally intended by the developer. The naval warfare simulator's original version was a stand-alone version of Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag’s pirate ship combat mechanics.
The studio explained that the game is being delayed again because "extra time will help us in providing further polish and balancing to our game experience, following your feedback from previous tests." Ubisoft tried to soften the blow by promising "an array of exciting content" is coming in the next few weeks.
However, players are reporting their pre-orders for Skull and Bones have been automatically refunded by the PlayStation Store after the most recent delay announcement. The game is also no longer available for pre-order on the PS Store. The most that players can currently do is wishlist the game.
Just got an auto refund from Sony - anyone else? from SkullAndBonesGame
The pre-order cancelation affects only PlayStation owners as of writing. However, the Skull and Bones was removed from Steam some time ago.
This latest development is worrying for Ubisoft as the company is currently facing significant volatility. The current year may be huge in terms of viability for the game developer. Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot has recently been receiving backlash for an internal email that said that the success of the company is in the hands of its employees.
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Ubisoft has also been canceling unannounced projects as of late. The studio has canceled a total of seven games in just six months. The move is seen by many as an attempt by the French game studio to lower its expenses and perhaps focus its remaining resources on more viable projects.
The news of the automatic refund may sound alarming to players, but it does not mean that the game has been canceled. Sony may have initiated the refund as a response to the game being delayed indefinitely. Recently, Warner Bros. has also refunded gamers who pre-ordered Hogwarts Legacy after the PS4 and Xbox One versions of the game were delayed by several months.
Players who are looking forward to the game can only hope that Ubisoft will put out a title that is worth all the delays. With Ubisoft taking its time on the release, it only means that they want gamers to have the possible version of Skull and Bones when it eventually comes out.
This is not the only title that Ubisoft has delayed for an indefinite amount of time. The studio is still working on Beyond Good and Evil 2, which now holds the record for the longest development time for an AAA game.
