UPDATE: As it turns out, the information Tony Key gave to IGN yesterday is not true. Ubisoft has issued a statement in regards to Michel Ancel's involvement with Beyond Good & Evil 2, and it appears that he's still working with Ubisoft Montpellier on bringing the much anticipated game to life, as well as other projects.
Ubisoft's statement:
“What was reported by IGN is untrue. Michel is still leading creative development of several exciting projects being developed by Ubisoft Montpellier. We may have more to share on that at another time, but right now we are focused on the incredible lineup we have at E3 this year, which includes Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, Rainbow Six Siege, For Honor, Ghost Recon Wildlands and many more.”
Original Story: Ubisoft's E3 2015 press conference was one of the better conferences of the show. They made surprise announcements, unveiling a brand new South Park game as well as the triumphant return of the Ghost Recon franchise. However, not all Ubisoft fans left their press conference happy.
One game that Ubisoft fans have been clambering for, and wanted to see at E3, is Beyond Good & Evil 2. The sequel to the sleeper hit Beyond Good & Evil has had a strained development cycle. Footage leaked three years ago, but since then, there's been little to no update about Beyond Good & Evil 2's progress.
Ubisoft has said that development has switched to new-gen hardware, and nearly a year ago, it was said that series creator Michel Ancel joined the team as Director. Unfortunately, Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Ubisoft, Tony Key, has told IGN that in the time since then, Michel Ancel has abandoned development on Beyond Good & Evil 2.
Not only has Michel Ancel left the studio working on the game, but it seems as though Beyond Good & Evil 2 has halted development altogether at this point. As Key explained when asked for an update on the title, "There's just nothing to talk about right now. We don't really have anything to say."
Fans of Michel Ancel's work can still look forward to a game coming from him in the future. Currently, he's working on a non-Ubisoft game called WiLD, which will be exclusive to the PlayStation 4 when it releases.
Right now, things may seem bleak for Beyond Good & Evil 2, but if the video game industry has taught us anything, it's that even the game with the most improbable chance of ever getting released will eventually see the light of day, if enough people want it. Just recently Shenmue 3, a game that, for all intents and purposes, was never going to be released. However, Yu Suzuki took the stage during Sony's E3 2015 press conference and shocked the world by announcing a Shenmue 3 Kickstarter campaign.
Shenmue 3 blew by its Kickstarter funding goal with ease, and it just goes to show that even if the big name publishers and developers don't want to shell out the cash to get a game made, fans will be more than willing to turn their dream game into a reality. Shenmue 3 isn't the only recent example of this, either. A spiritual successor to Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Bloodstained, broke Kickstarter records, and a recent spiritual successor to Banjo-Kazooie, Yooka-Laylee, was successfully funded as well. If Ubisoft ultimately decides that Beyond Good & Evil 2 is not financially viable, perhaps the game should go through the Kickstarter route.
Beyond Good & Evil 2 is currently trapped in development hell. There are no announced platforms, and development seems to have been put on hiatus for the time being.
Source: IGN