'Skull and Bones' has been delayed until March 9, 2023.

Ubisoft has been developing the pirate game for a long time, but in order to give fans the "best possible experience" they require more time to iron out some kinks.

The publisher said in a statement: “Ahoy there, privateers. Our team is hard at work polishing and balancing the experience ahead of the worldwide launch. As a result, we’ve made the tough decision to move our release date to March 9, 2023.

“We’re very eager for you all to get your hands on Skull and Bones and dive in headfirst to the dangerous and exciting world of building your own pirate empire. To give you the best possible experience we’ve decided to take a little more time to make sure we can deliver exactly that.”

However, Ubisoft promised an open beta would be on the way shortly.

The action-adventure title was first announced five years ago at Ubisoft’s 2017 E3 press conference.

In June, it was revealed that the game has been given a mature rating.

A summary noted that the game features depictions of corpses and brothels, as well as occasional bad language.

It read: "Some territories depict corpses impaled on spikes or hanging from nooses; beaches may depict corpses and large bloodstains in the aftermath of battle.

"Settlements occasionally contain brothels and prostitutes that call out to players when approached (e.g., 'Come spend your coin all over me'; 'The price of my a*se goes up tomorrow, so buy a piece today!').

"Players can also engage in quests to bring poppies to opium dens, which are depicted with patrons lying on couches smoking pipes. The words 'f***' and 's****' appear in the dialogue."