Announced back in 2017, from the team behind all the naval and pirate ship stuff in Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag, Skull & Bones was originally meant to set sail back in 2018. Then in 2018 it resurfaced with a new gameplay trailer that looked like a multiplayer arcade-racer take on Rare's Sea of Thieves. The new release window... 2019.

Also we got word that a Skull & Bones TV series was in production. Here's that slice of gameplay.



Since then though it's been MIA with Ubisoft periodically reminding us that it was still in development. That last official word came from Ubisoft's CEO back in October 2019.

According to a new report at VGC, which cites sources close to development, Skull & Bones is moving away from a traditional narrative and retail price-point to become a free-to-play "live service" title in the style of Fortnite. In fact the live storytelling side of Fortnite apparently served as the inspiration for the reboot. Though on that front we didn't even know Fortnite had a story.

So, all characters and story-lines we've seen so far might still be included but players and their actions will shape how events play out and how the world will change over time. Probably alongside a Seasonal model with progression and monetisation tied to cosmetics. The sources note that the reboot process for Skull & Bones began last year and that alongside the change creative director Justin Farren left the project -- he's now at Wargaming.

But there's some good news there as he's apparently been replaced by Elisabeth Pellen who directed the 2003 cel-shaded shooter XIII (a classic in its own right) alongside contributing to the Splinter Cell series. Either way it's safe to say that development on Skull & Bones has been troubled or not all that clear in its direction. Here's hoping we hear more on this soon.