Ubisoft’s modern equivalent of the infamous Duke Nukem Forever project is no longer coming out in March, as promised earlier. According to Ubisoft’s most recent press release and investor call, its most recent big-budget games, specifically, Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope and Just Dance 2023, didn’t perform as well as expected. As a result of the current economic state of the world and poor overall sales of the company’s latest titles, Ubisoft has decided to push back the release of Skull and Bones to anytime during the next fiscal year. Further, Ubisoft confirmed that it has canceled development on three unannounced projects on top of the four that were already canceled last year. At this point, we’re surprised Ubisoft hasn’t outright canceled Skull and Bones as well as Beyond Good and Evil 2. Ubisoft has worked on Skull and Bones in some capacity ever since it started as DLC for Assassin’s Creed in 2013. Ubisoft’s sunk in more than a decade of development into the game and hundreds of millions of dollars in investment. Ubisoft might want to recoup its costs by releasing Skull and Bones, but we’d be lying if we didn’t feel like this game could underwhelm and cost the company even more than it’s likely to make from it. If it’s any consolation, Ubisoft confirmed it still intends to release Assassin’s Creed Mirage, a new Avatar game, and more “yet-to-be-announced premium games, including a large one” for the next fiscal year. Whether this will change is anybody’s guess.
