Well, shiver me timbers! We were not expecting Ubisoft’s multiplayer piratical sandbox Skull and Bones to get to this point, but sure enough, the game is opening itself to private tester applications, calling for players to join an Insider Program of “carefully selected players to play an early version of our game in real conditions before anyone else.”
This group of insiders will be among a “relatively small” gaggle of players who are “dedicated to testing work in progress versions of our game where you will experience bugs and issues, helping to create a better experience for the rest of the community.” Those who are willing to have patience with a roughshod version of the title and agree to both an NDA and a code of conduct are invited to submit an application.
To say that Skull and Bones has been a long time coming would be an understatement: The title was first announced at E3 2017 and has been languishing in development hell ever since, facing a total of four delays as Ubisoft Singapore promised a “new vision” for the title and a general reboot, and that’s to say nothing of Ubisoft’s own sexual harassment scandals that extended to the Singapore studio, which saw the associate director vacate the company.
As of right now, Skull and Bones is eyeing a release sometime in 2023, but considering this game’s prior history and how insider testing goes, we’ll call that release window tenuous at best.
We are kicking off our Insider Program, a unique opportunity for a selected few to test early versions of Skull and Bones & share feedback. Apply now if you think you have what it takes!
— Skull & Bones (@skullnbonesgame) March 9, 2022
