Ubisoft’s long-troubled Beyond Good & Evil 2 is allegedly facing a “development crisis” due to a lack of both leadership and consistency with Ubisoft’s future plans for its games, said industry insider Tom Henderson today on Twitter. Henderson stated that the project has not been canceled yet, but “some developers believe it’s a matter of time before it is.”
Bear in mind that Henderson did state this information has been difficult for him to corroborate, so, as always when dealing with leaks, take it with a grain of salt.
Henderson alleged the title has lacked sufficient creative direction since the start of its development, and that director Michel Ancel’s departure from Ubisoft amid the company’s sexual misconduct scandal last year only exacerbated the situation. Shortly after Ancel’s departure, French news outlet Libération published an article (paywall) that suggested Ancel was “a creative director with toxic methods,” and described Beyond Good & Evil 2’s development as “chaotic and painful.” Ancel denied the allegations, referring to the article as “fake news.”
Henderson said the project has been described as “Skull & Bones 2.0,” a reference to another in-the-works Ubisoft game that has had a long, troubled development with no release window in sight. Beyond Good & Evil 2 was originally announced in 2008, and has been seemingly stuck in limbo since; an early in-engine demo of the game was shown off during E3 2017, and a trailer was shown the following year, but the game has been virtually radio silent since.
The insider further stated “the game currently doesn’t fit with Ubisoft’s future ambitions and goals with future titles,” which has led some developers to believe it’s on the verge of cancellation.
“I hope this sheds some light on what is going on with the title,” said Henderson. Ubisoft has yet to comment on Henderson’s claims, nor provide an update on the status of Beyond Good & Evil 2.
