How Long Has Skull and Bones Been in Development?

After many years, Skull and Bones is almost here. But how long has Skull and Bones been in development? Here’s what you need to know.

When Did the Development of Skull and Bones Begin?

Ubisoft announced Skull and Bones in 2017 at E3. This means that the game was in active development for over six years, but wait – there’s a caveat to this. The game is notorious for its many delays, so let’s make a short timeline of Skull and Bones development events.

Skull and Bones was initially envisioned as a multiplayer expansion to Assasin’s Creed IV: Black Flag all the way back in 2013, according to Kotaku. The game was dragged in many directions over the course of the past decade, until eventually, it is what we know now as an “Ubisoft original” that is starting a new franchise.

Skull and Bones Development Timeline

• 2013 – Development allegedly began.
• 2017 – Announced at E3 at Ubisoft’s press conference with a playable demo. It’s important to note that at this moment, it was planned to be released on the last-gen consoles. Now, this is not the case.
• 2018 – The first release date was set to be around the end of the year. Cue the first delay.
• 2019 – The new release date was set to be during 2019. However, another delay happened.
• 2020 – The third release date was set to be in the spring or summer of 2020, but then there were some budgeting issues and a pandemic, so there was another delay. Ubisoft confirmed Skull and Bones “is not dead” in a hilarious way.
• 2021-2022 – The fourth release date was supposed to be between July 2021 and June 2022, but, you guessed it, another delay happened, which was announced in May 2021.
• 2022-2023 – The fifth release date was meant to be between July 2022 and June 2023, but Ubisoft delayed the release of Skull and Bones once again, allegedly due to sales numbers of its other properties. Pre-orders were also canceled at that time.
• 2023 – Near the end of August, a Closed Beta happened. Also, in October 2023, the release of Skull and Bones was announced again. This time, February 2024 was chosen.
• 2024 – The Open Beta released in early February. The game is set to be released on February 16th, 2024.

Will there be another last-minute delay? I hope not. If you decide to pick it up and get into trouble while getting Acacia in Skull and Bones, we have a guide for you.