Beyond Good & Evil 2 is ‘still in pre-production’ after 18 years as its vision keeps changing, report claims
Staff are reportedly concerned that Ubisoft may finally pull the plug one day
Beyond Good & Evil 2 is still in pre-production, according to a new report on the game’s troubled development.
Beyond Good & Evil 2 was originally announced back in 2008, and despite a re-reveal in 2017, there’s still been no sign of a release any time soon. Creator Michel Ancel left Ubisoft in 2020, saying he was leaving the video game industry entirely to focus on a new career in wildlife.
Now, a new report from French publication Origami – which previously correctly leaked that the Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown team had been disbanded – suggests that even after 18 years, the game has still yet to enter full development.
According to the site’s sources, several hundred people continue to work on the game, mainly at Ubisoft Montpellier, but the team continues to nail down exactly what type of game it should even be.
The report states that between 2019 and 2022, Beyond Good & Evil 2 was supposed to be a multiplayer game featuring multiple planets where players could be matched. The idea was to make it a “third place” where players could hang out with their friends after work, as in games like Destiny or Fortnite.
Over time, however, the game’s vision has reportedly changed numerous times, from an online multiplayer game to a team-based game supporting four players, then two players. Now the report claims the game has become a “solo first” adventure, with a strong story that can be played in co-op.
The tone has also reportedly changed over the years, with sources saying it was considered ‘Zelda in space’ a few years back, and is now more like Insomniac‘s Spider-Man games.
According to the report, sources believe the game has seemed impervious to cancellation over the years, but that this may finally change given Ubisoft‘s new restructuring plans and the numerous layoffs that have come as a result. Despite that, there are seemingly no signs yet that the game is being cancelled.
Earlier this year Ubisoft announced a significant organizational restructuring, which saw its development teams split into autonomous ‘creative houses’.
One of those ‘houses’ was confirmed to include Beyond Good & Evil 2, which came as a surprise to some, leading to its creative director Fawzi Mesmar stating that the game’s development team “remain[s] committed and focused on delivering a remarkable game for our players to enjoy”.
In 2024, the game’s creator Michel Ancel shared his views on what went wrong with Beyond Good & Evil 2 during his time at the company, saying he felt that clashes between management were the main issue.
