This Wednesday Ubisoft announced a major internal restructuring or, as we who speak and write English would put it: massive layoffs, studio closures, and the cancellation of at least six in-development projects (including the Prince of Persia: Sands of Time remake). The company’s share price has nosedived, a call for a “massive international strike” is circulating among staff, and really it’s just terrible times for the French multinational.
As soon as I saw the news I thought that Beyond Good & Evil 2, a definitely real game that exists and has been in development hell forever, had to be among the cancelled projects. Amazingly enough it’s not, as confirmed by creative director Fawzi Mesmar on LinkedIn.
“Thank you for everyone who has reached out to me over the past few days in regards to recent news at Ubisoft,” writes Mesmar. “Myself, my team and our project Beyond Good and Evil 2 are unaffected by the recent changes. I would direct you to the official press release for more information around the latest organisational structure.”
This press release sets out the new structure for Ubisoft: so-called “Creative Houses” loosely group the publisher’s various games by genre and target audience. Beyond Good & Evil sits in Creative House 4, which is “dedicated to immersive fantasy worlds and narrative-driven universes” and also includes the likes of Might & Magic, Rayman, and Prince of Persia.
“Needless to say, I am saddened by the cancellations that ha[ve] affected my colleagues in other parts of Ubisoft and the industry,” wrote Mesmar. “I urge everyone—myself included—to offer support whenever and however they can during these times. We remain committed and focused on delivering a remarkable game for our players to enjoy.”
The post is accompanied by the key art from the project, which has now been in some form of development for nearly 20 years. Beyond Good & Evil 2 began development in Montpellier in 2007 under series creator Michel Ancel, best-known for Rayman, with most of the original game’s team. As has frequently happened with the game it then just kind of… disappeared for a while, with Ubisoft saying Ancel’s team was focused on other projects.
Beyond Good & Evil 2 was re-announced in 2017 with a concept trailer that looked too good to be true. In 2018 Ubisoft showed off 25 minutes of footage to convince the naysayers that this is a real game. Except… then it disappeared again.
Things didn’t look great when, following allegations of fostering a “toxic” work environment (which he denied), Michel Ancel left Ubisoft in 2020 to go work in an animal sanctuary. Then the project was hit by tragedy, with the death of creative lead Emil Morel in 2023.
Ubisoft has continued to dripfeed information about Beyond God & Evil 2, and included some nods to it in the original game’s 20th anniversary edition. But the game still lacks a release date, and after so long in development has serious questions to answer. Despite this week’s bloodbath at Ubisoft, though, it somehow still exists. Promise.
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