Beyond Good and Evil Creator Shares Insight On Sequel’s Development Issues

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Beyond Good and Evil Creator Shares Insight On Sequel's Development Issues

Key Takeaways

  • Creative differences between project leads were reportedly at the root of many prior Beyond Good and Evil 2 development issues.
  • The project is now understood to be in a more stable state, leadership-wise, but its progress remains unclear.

As a veteran gamer with over three decades of gaming under my belt, I can’t help but feel a tinge of nostalgia and frustration when it comes to Beyond Good and Evil 2. Having grown up playing the original BGAE on my trusty Dreamcast, I was ecstatic when Ubisoft announced a sequel back in 2017. But alas, it seems that creative differences between project leads have been the game’s kryptonite, much like how Jade’s Pey’j was allergic to space peanuts.

In a recent interview, Michel Ancel – a veteran at Ubisoft – disclosed that many problems encountered during the development of “Beyond Good and Evil 2” were due to creative disagreements among the project’s main leaders, including himself. This insight provides greater understanding about the challenges faced in earlier versions of “Beyond Good and Evil 2”.

2017’s Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) on June 12th was the venue where Ubisoft debuted the cinematic trailer for Beyond Good and Evil, a milestone marking seven years since its initial teaser. Interestingly, it had been eight years since the game’s concept was first hinted at. Despite Ubisoft consistently confirming that Beyond Good and Evil 2 is still in development, they have been relatively quiet about its progress for over fifteen years following their initial commitment to the project.

In an interview with Superpouvoir in December 2024, ex-Ubisoft executive Michel Ancel revealed some fresh insights about the reasons behind the problems faced by the eagerly anticipated game. As per him, many of the development challenges that Beyond Good and Evil 2 experienced were due to conflicts among the project’s key decision-makers. “The art director wished to repeatedly rework everything, the game director wanted to create a game featuring procedurally generated dungeons, and I envisioned a space odyssey,” the renowned designer reminisced.

Beyond Good and Evil Creator Shares Insight On Sequel's Development IssuesBeyond Good and Evil Creator Shares Insight On Sequel's Development IssuesBeyond Good and Evil Creator Shares Insight On Sequel's Development IssuesBeyond Good and Evil Creator Shares Insight On Sequel's Development IssuesBeyond Good and Evil Creator Shares Insight On Sequel's Development Issues

Beyond Good and Evil 2 Has Been Hitting One Roadblock After Another in Recent years

In essence, a seasoned professional in the industry shared with Superpouvoir that the lead on the project veered it towards different paths. Given Michel Ancel’s departure from the Beyond Good and Evil 2 team and Ubisoft in 2020, the director they mentioned was likely Jean-Marc Geffroy, who joined the project in 2017 and continued to guide it until Emile Morel took over in early 2023.

The art director kept insisting on remaking everything multiple times, the game director envisioned a game based on randomly-generated dungeons, while I longed for a space exploration journey in my dreams.

The turbulence within the management team didn’t signify the resolution of the challenges facing the game. Regrettably, Morel, who took over as leader of Beyond Good and Evil 2 just half a year prior, passed away. Later on, Fawzi Mesmar, who had been Ubisoft’s Global Creative VP since November 2021, stepped into the role, announcing his new position in October 2024. Looking back at all the staff changes, Ancel told Superpouvoir that he feels Beyond Good and Evil 2 has found a “certain equilibrium” under its new leadership. He also admitted that he shares some accountability for the creative disputes that have plagued the project in the past.

Ancel Confirms Involvement in New Rayman Game

Despite the fact that the situation regarding the development of Beyond Good and Evil 2 no longer seems as tumultuous as it was earlier, it’s still uncertain how far along in production the game has advanced. Ancel, on the other hand, continues to be partially retired from game development and is mainly dedicated to managing his open wildlife animal sanctuary, which he established upon leaving Ubisoft in 2020. A recent piece of news hinted that he might have returned to work as a consultant for the remake of Rayman, the popular 1995 platformer that Ancel originally created. In an interview with Superpouvoir, Ancel appears to have confirmed this return, expressing enjoyment working on Rayman again, though he did not provide any details about the project itself.

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2024-12-09 18:23