Age of Pirates Revealed on Pirates Ahoy! reveals that the upcoming pirate-themed game from Akella is a project called Age of Pirates, rather than Sea Dogs 2 as was speculated (story). Included are some details on the project, as well as a Q&A with Akella's Renat Nezametdinov discussing the open-ended nature of the project:

Completely open ended. The player creates his own story himself as he starts the game. No prescripted story, no plot bounds - just do what you want. AOP game world is a complex system that lives by itself and reacts on player actions. Player still has a goal to achieve (gather all colonies under his hand) but there are many ways to reach it. AOP is the game where old Greek saying "The man can't enter the same river twice" becomes true. Player will never be able to repeat his previous game even if he tries.