Ubisoft’s upcoming pirate game Skull and Bones, which has experienced years of development issues since Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, is now delayed for four more months.

The upcoming title will be out on 9th March 2023 for Xbox Series, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and PC, instead of its 11th November release date. At least Ubisoft has taken our advice on our PC Gaming Week video to not release the game on such a packed week filled with God of War: Ragnarok and Sonic Frontiers.

Furthermore, the game will have an open beta session ahead of the game’s release. As to when that’s happening, there’s no word as of yet.

“While the game development is finished at this stage, the extra time will be used to further polish and balance the experience using players’ feedback from our Technical tests and Insider Program which happened over the past two weeks. This is the right decision both for our players and for the long-term success of the game as 9th March, 2023 provides for a suitable release window for this very unique new brand.” 

While it’s good that Ubisoft has some leeway before the end of the next fiscal year due to Singapore government deadline reasons (if there’s no game released by Ubisoft Singapore via government grant money, the government can take legal action), a huge number of Ubisoft Singapore staff will be working harder than usual from now until March 2023 to get this game sorted. Hopefully the company wouldn’t be resorting to crunch, because that’s going to add on to the pile of PR flak the company has been getting as of late.