Skull & Bones had to be a new IP

The new pirate multiplayer extravaganza from Ubisoft was one of the high points of this years E3.

It is, however, reminiscent of Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag’s see voyages. That installment of Ubi’s flagship franchise was considered by many to be one of the best. Why push for a new IP then?

Ubisoft Singapore managing director Olivier de Rotalier, in an interview with Gamespot, has said the pirate fantasy was a high point for the studio and they started experimenting with naval battles and multiplayer. At that point, it was so far off what Assassin’s Creed was all about, that the studio decided to go for a new brand.

“We are building a game that we want to support in the long term, that relies on strong mechanics; RPG, online. We want to build a strong service to be able to support a long-term experience. We are convinced that the core gameplay that we are building is big enough to experience in the long term and keep people engaged. We have a plan to make it last.”

Skull & Bones is still without a release date and you can sign up for beta test here.