One of the most anticipated titles from Ubisoft has unfortunately encountered another setback. After an initial leak that was reported by Kotaku, Ubisoft let the cat out of the bag and indeed confirmed that Skull and Bones has been delayed until March 9, 2023. That’s a full four-month difference from the previous date that the title had,  November 8, which was also only a couple of months away from now. For those keeping score at home, this is now the fifth delay of the game, a sign of the arduous development cycle the title has been going through.

Update: Ubisoft confirms the delay of Skull & Bones, now coming March 9, 2023https://t.co/jwf3dXs7EF pic.twitter.com/uKZ3dV0AUz

— Nibel (@Nibellion) September 28, 2022

Thankfully, Ubisoft states that the title’s development is now in the home stretch. According to the publisher, the delay was so that they can “further polish and balance the experience” after getting more feedback from technical tests and closed betas. Ubisoft also mentioned that Skull and Bones will be getting an open beta that will take place sometime in the “near future.” The publisher states that they’ll share more news on how to register for the open beta soon.

As we’ve already mentioned, Skull and Bones has been through a very long and difficult development cycle. Initially revealed at E3 2017, Skull and Bones was given a tentative time frame release of Fall 2018. The game received its first delay the following year, giving it a tentative time frame of 2019. However, that soon became a question mark as we entered the year 2019, as the game still had no concrete date despite the continuing development. Then it was delayed again, this time until 2020, and then once again just a few months later into the fiscal year of 2021-2022.

Then, after what seemed like an eternity, Skull and Bones finally entered into the Alpha stage of development. A little more than a year later, it was given the aforementioned November 8 release date, until this week with its fifth, and hopefully final delay. Skull and Bones will now officially launch on March 9, 2023, for the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/Series S, and PC.