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Ubisoft's open seas pirate fantasy from hell has lost its third creative director. Kotaku has learned that Elisabeth Pellen, who began working with the Skull and Bones team back in 2018, left Ubisoft Singapore to return to the French publisher's Paris headquarters earlier this summer. The game's long-awaited closed beta recently received mixed reactions, and Kotaku now understands that Ubisoft Singapore faces an organized labor campaign by the country's Creative Media and Publishing Union.

Pellen, who was previously a VP of editorial, Ubisoft's centralized department for creative oversight and support for franchises like Assassin's Creed, Far Cry, and The Division, oversaw Skull and Bones' pivot from primarily a session-based multiplayer ship combat shooter to a broader exploration and survival-oriented piracy sim that drew loose inspiration from games like Rust and Ark: Survival Evolved. She's now back at Ubisoft's Paris office with the title of directeur editorial online, according to her LinkedIn profile.

"Five years ago, Elisabeth Pellen went to Ubisoft Singapore with a mission to reboot the creative direction of Skull and Bones," a spokesperson for Ubisoft told Kotaku wrote in an emailed statement. "She succeeded, and the Skull and Bones team is now fulfilling her vision to deliver a unique naval action RPG experience to our players."

The publisher added that at this stage of a game’s development “it’s not uncommon for a creative director to move on to a new project or role,” though two sources familiar with the situation, who wished to remain anonymous because they were not authorized to speak about company business, told Kotaku that Pellen’s tenure at Ubisoft Singapore had been expected to last at least through the end of the year.

Pellen did not respond to a request for comment.

Skull And Bones Loses Another Creative Director, Faces Union Campaign

There's still no release date for the Assassin’s Creed publisher’s long-overdue pirate ship game

kotaku.com

 

[feynoob]

Most disastrous game in the gaming history.
This game is cursed man.

 

[Cert.in.Death]

Most disastrous game in the gaming history.
This game is cursed man.

Beyond Good And Evil 2 Development Team:

 

[M.W.]

Liked the beta.

Bad taste, tis I have matey

 

[SmokedMeat]

 

[Bond007]

I still manage to be excited for this game since day one.
Unfortunately didnt get the beta though. Hopefully despite it all we end up with a fun game.

 

[Gaiff]

Most disastrous game in the gaming history.
This game is cursed man.

Apparently, they have to release this game because of some contract with the Singaporean government. I played the public beta a few months ago (maybe a year) and it was awful, even by Ubisoft standards.

 

[Gaiff]

I still manage to be excited for this game since day one.
Unfortunately didnt get the beta though. Hopefully despite it all we end up with a fun game.

I was excited for a multiplayer pirate game. It's complete and utter shit. I played the beta with a friend after getting an email that I was selected so I sent him a code. To this day, he resents me for this.

 

[feynoob]

Apparently, they have to release this game because of some contract with the Singaporean government. I played the public beta a few months ago (maybe a year) and it was awful, even by Ubisoft standards.

They need to power their expectations.

 

[diffusionx]

Ubi has dropped $400-$500 million on this at least and they have nothing to show for it.

 

[Bond007]

I was excited for a multiplayer pirate game. It's complete and utter shit. I played the beta with a friend after getting an email that I was selected so I sent him a code. To this day, he resents me for this.

Well that's unfortunate, the media i saw coming out after the beta seemed fun.

 

[StueyDuck]

They should honestly just put out what's there and call it early access and just get it over with

I've played that same damn intro with the crash boat and crafting items then leaving to pirate city and crafting your first ship and cannons like 20 times now

 

[StreetsofBeige]

Whether it’s good or bad, high budget or low budget, are gamers really itching for pirate boat battles to put this much time and budget into this game?

 

[Mr Hyde]

If there is one game that begs for a mercy killing it's Skull & Bones. Just take it behind the shed and put two in the back. No one will even notice it's gone.

 

[Fake]

Just cancel the game already.

 

[Tsaki]

Whether it’s good or bad, high budget or low budget, are gamers really itching for pirate boat battles to put this much time and budget into this game?

I am. I loved Black Flag. And it's Ubisoft and Singaporean government budget, so spend away.

 

[Pejo]

Black Flag (or Rogue if you nasty) is still all you need from Ubi pirate games. Toss this in the bin where it belongs.

 

[brian0057]

This game is never seeing the light of day.

 

[dotnotbot]

Had a good laugh when I watched some recent beta gameplay and they list like 10 different Ubisoft studios as developers for this game during intro.

Found it (27:40), ignore the guy

 

[Kurotri]

This game started dev in like 2013 or something with the obvious intention to ride on Black Flag's wave of success. 10 years later it's still not out, has lost multiple creative directors, and has been a giant money sink. For some odd reason they had the brilliant idea to make it as bare bones as possible, by having your entire gameloop consist of steering a ship and occasionally shooting at.. other ships. Only 1 small part of what made BF good. Braindead offering of "gameplay" and they still can't release this game. Couple that with awful working conditions and you got a real star studio here.

The funny part is that this exact studio recently got the greenlight to remake...Black Flag. What the fuck lol.

 

[TVexperto]

Beyond Good And Evil 2 Development Team:

Squadron 42 team