Ubisoft’s upcoming pirate game Skull and Bones has been a nightmare to develop, as the studio lost its creative director and workers started unionizing.

Skull and Bones‘ development has been rocky to say the least, originally starting as an Assassin’s Creed expansion, the game quickly grew in scope, and has been quite the problem for Ubisoft Singapore.

Allegations of sexual assault surfaced around 2021, which exposed a lot of Ubisoft Singapore’s secrets to the public, as it was revealed to be the worst Ubisoft studio in terms of culture. This was then followed by the game’s unimpressive closed beta, which was described by outlets as boring.

The game was expected to launch on March of 2023, but Ubisoft announced a delay, which was quickly followed up by a leak that showed the game did not have a lot of progress in its development.

Creative director Elisabeth Pellen was sent to Ubisoft Singapore with the mission of rebooting the game’s direction, but has recently left. Anonymous sources who spoke to Kotaku claim that she was expected to stay until the end of the year, despite the publisher’s claims that her departure was expected.

Elisabeth’s departure coincides with a now ongoing union campaign, organized by Singapore’s Creative Media and Publishing Union.

Ubisoft has said the following in a statement:

[…] At the request of the Creative Media and Publishing Union (CMPU), a branch of Singapore’s National Trade Union Congress, a ballot exercise is being conducted this week among eligible team members in the studio to determine whether formal recognition should be granted. […]

Ubisoft believes in the importance of listening to our employees and fostering an open dialogue, and we believe that we have appropriate mechanisms and initiatives in place to continue creating a great workplace. Ubisoft Singapore was voted by employees as a Great Place to Work in 2022, and we will continue to engage with our team members to gather their feedback and work together to create a workplace where everyone can thrive.

It is unknown if these developments will lead to another delay, but so far Ubisoft promises to deliver the title in March, 2024.

Skulls and Bones is supposedly coming March, 2024, for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and Microsoft Windows.