The announcement of Beyond Good and Evil 2 during E3 2016 was a welcome surprise for many, as fans of the original game hoped but didn’t trust a sequel would ever be made. Even then, skepticism was rife, as the gameplay from Beyond Good and Evil 2 looked prototypical. The years since have not done much to counter that skepticism, with Beyond Good and Evil creator Michel Ancel departing the project and Ubisoft entirely. Yet, despite all implications otherwise, reports claim that Beyond Good and Evil 2 remains in development.
The report comes from Bloomberg, though the information is only tangentially mentioned in relation to another Ubisoft project – a standalone Assassin’s Creed game that used to be an expansion for Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. According to Bloomberg, Beyond Good and Evil 2 remains in development at Ubisoft. However, there’s no further information to share regarding Ubisoft’s future plans for the sequel.
All that Bloomberg is willing to add on the subject is that Beyond Good and Evil 2 has yet to move into full production. Despite over five years passing since Beyond Good and Evil 2’s announcement, the sequel remains in pre-production. That means that it remains in a state of planning that can involve basic ideas like deciding what the actual game will be and whether there’s a market for it. Suffice to say, it’s not an encouraging place for a game to be in after so much time.
While it’s impossible to predict exactly what’s going on behind the scenes at Ubisoft, there are several possible reasonable explanations for Beyond Good and Evil 2’s development woes. To start, its announcement came before an actual game had been figured out. Since then, the project may have been rebooted one or several times. It’s also possible, if not likely, that development resources for the project have been taken for other priorities like Far Cry and Assassin’s Creed.
There are also the very real and unignorable controversies that have waylaid Ubisoft for some time now. Accusations of discrimination and sexual harassment within Ubisoft have led to a lot of shifting around, as well as low morale. That alone may have crippled the development of Beyond Good and Evil 2.
All that fans of Beyond Good and Evil can do now is wait and hope that Ubisoft will soon redirect the resources necessary for the sequel to move forward in development. As of right now, however, that doesn’t seem like something to happen soon. It likely won’t be for years yet before the fate of Beyond Good and Evil 2 is made known.
Beyond Good and Evil 2 is in development.
Source: Bloomberg
