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[Thick Thighs Save Lives]

The sequel 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. Ancel left Ubisoft in 2020, saying he was leaving the video game industry entirely to focus on a new career in wildlife.

Now, in a new interview with Superpouvoir, Ancel has given his view 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.

“On some projects, we set ourselves huge challenges and take on teams with passion, but without knowing how long and complex the road ahead will be,” Ancel explained. “Passion is a fabulous energy, but it can also lead to clashes between enthusiasts. On Beyond Good & Evil 2, for example, there were too many problems between managers.

“The art director wanted to redo everything over and over again, the game director wanted to make a generated dungeon game and I was dreaming of a space adventure. We simply couldn’t agree, and the game director took the project in other directions.

“In this type of situation, the teams are thrown around and don’t even know who’s in charge and who’s making the decisions. The producer is supposed to bring order to the situation, but that didn’t happen. Yves Guillemot even had to go down to Montpellier to get things back on track, but that wasn’t enough, and the game director continued in his stubbornness.”

Ancel also stated that while he was annoyed to have been cited in reports as one of the key reasons for the game’s issues, he did take some responsibility by not speaking out more.

“When I read in [French newspaper] Libé that I was the one running the game and asking for changes, I thought I was going to choke,” he recalled. “Beyond Good & Evil 2 is the one game where I don’t think I’ve ever questioned a decision. I’d be delighted to discuss this with any detractors.

“At the end of the day, it’s all a case of passionate managers not getting along. I believe that some time ago, these people were dismissed and the project found a certain balance with new managers.

“These management problems are of course very damaging for the teams. All this goes to show that it’s not an easy job – lots of egos and lots at stake, with clearly room for improvement in terms of human management.”

He added: “There wasn’t just one big villain, but a whole series of key issues that remained unresolved at management level, including myself. I have my share of responsibility and I should have defended the project better, been more present and more conciliatory with the staff.”

Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot claimed in 2020 that Beyond Good & Evil 2 was “coming along very well”, after being asked to provide a development update on the game during an earnings call following Ancels’ departure.

Four years later, however – and some 16 years since the sequel’s initial announcement – Ubisoft has still shown nothing substantial relating to the game.

Despite this, it maintains that it remains in development, and a 20th Anniversary Edition remaster of the first Beyond Good & Evil released earlier this year contained a new mission which the publisher said “reveals more about the narrative link to Beyond Good & Evil 2, showing Ubisoft’s enduring commitment to the franchise”.

Michel Ancel claims Beyond Good & Evil 2 development hindered by ‘problems between managers’ | VGC

Beyond Good & Evil creator says sequel team ‘didn’t even know who’s in charge’…

www.videogameschronicle.com

 

[RoboFu]

No one cares now. It's wayyy too late. Younger gamers have no idea what that game is.

 

[elmos-acc]

That's the excuse he's going with? Maybe the department heads should be at least somewhat same page when the game is even greenlit?

 

[Killjoy-NL]

This game can never be good. Wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy too late now.

 

[BlackTron]

Why bother without Ancel?

Same as Rayman. You had sooo long to do it while he actually existed.

 

[Perrott]

It will forever be a gigantic tragedy that a chad such as Ancel had to departure his own studio and dream project because of the bad influence some cockroaches in the form of a couple random ass Ubi directors were having on Beyond Good & Evil 2.

This is comparable to Nomura being forced to quit his brainchild - Final Fantasy Versus XIII - only for a total hack like Tabata to come over and ruin his vision.

 

[Danjin44]

I’m no expert when it comes to game development but maybe they should put one director in charge of entire project like most Japanese game studios do, so that way the game will be only focus on one vision instead crashing between different ideas.

 

[Gonzito]

Man, Ubisoft can't catch a break

 

[Matt_Fox]

Gosh, they must've burned through so much cash funding this non-starter. It sounds like a case of too many cooks...

Shame because the first one was a decent enough game.

 

[SJRB]

They've been working on this game for close to 20 years now.

I can't even imagine the horror. 20 years of your life gone and nothing to show for it so far.

Absolutely insane and Ubi should've stepped in a decade ago.

 

[BlackTron]

Absolutely insane and Ubi should've stepped in a decade ago.

Part of me wonders if the problem was that Ubi did step in.

 

[Matt_Fox]

US and Japanese dev teams have always been culturally better at getting behind one idea and pushing it through to conclusion.

The European mindset tends to sees more ideas generated, and individuals refusing to fully relinquish their idea. This sounds like a case in point.

 

[RagnarokIV]

Not very good at managing then, are they?

Also game is too late, the gaming world is different now so it would end up as shitty Ubisoft open world game, map icons, crap writing, snarky etc.

You'd get tonal and quality whiplash comparable to watching RoboCop and RoboCop 3 back to back.

 

[Fake]

Ubisoft is so fucking done at this point.

 

[yurinka]

“At the end of the day, it’s all a case of passionate managers not getting along. I believe that some time ago, these people were dismissed and the project found a certain balance with new managers."

Why bother without Ancel?

Because AAA games are made by thousands of people, not just by one single guy.

US and Japanese dev teams have always been culturally better at getting behind one idea and pushing it through to conclusion.

Nah, always has been quite common everywhere to end going way beyond the initial scope and from time to time there are always projects that end getting too long, remember cases like Duke Nukem Forever, The Last Guardian or the next Fumito Ueda game. But in most cases happens with games that weren't publicly announced (or get cancelled before getting announced, or are games nobody care about them).

 

[Sebastian1295]

The problem is ancel himself is not that good of a game director. He was also the director of that failed game called WILD that became vaporware. The guy probably retired from the industry to save what was left of his reputation.

 

[winjer]

Ubisoft can't do anything right....What a dumpster fire of a company.
To think that during the 90's and 00's, they could do no wrong.
Quite the impressive reversal.

 

[Thief1987]

It will forever be a gigantic tragedy that a chad such as Ancel had to departure his own studio and dream project because of the bad influence some cockroaches in the form of a couple random ass Ubi directors were having on Beyond Good & Evil 2.

This is comparable to Nomura being forced to quit his brainchild - Final Fantasy Versus XIII - only for a total hack like Tabata to come over and ruin his vision.

Nomura's "vision" didn't produce anything worthwhile in six years. How much more time they should have given him?

 

[mdkirby]

Given games are usually in dev a few years prior to announcement, this has been in dev about 20 years. Like seriously how much has this cost? And how many sales does it need to make to break even? It has to be well in excess of 1bn at this point for breakeven if and when it releases (given marketing costs). Ubisoft just seems one hell of a hot mess.

 

[Hudo]

The problem is ancel himself is not that good of a game director. He was also the director of that failed game called WILD that became vaporware. The guy probably retired from the industry to save what was left of his reputation.

He also directed Rayman 2 and Rayman 3, which are the best non-Nintendo 3D platformers, imho. Especially Rayman 2.

 

[Valonquar]

 

[Sebastian1295]

He also directed Rayman 2 and Rayman 3, which are the best non-Nintendo 3D platformers, imho. Especially Rayman 2.

Ya i was too harsh with my comment i admit lol. I am excited too see the new rayman game that's being worked on by him because i do love me some rayman.

 

[Hudo]

i do love me some rayman.

Hell yeah.

But I think you are also right that something went wrong. He oversaw two projects and both failed (Wild & BG&E 2). Both at different studios. So maybe something about his management style doesn't work with larger teams? Afaik, the teams that made Rayman 2 and 3 were fairly small in comparison.

 

[MayauMiao]

At this point I think they should just remake Beyond Good & Evil for the new generation instead of attempting at a sequel.

 

[BlackTron]

Because AAA games are made by thousands of people, not just by one single guy.

Of course they're made by many people, directed by few.

 

[Wildebeest]

It's a problem with these huge companies that they are full of ambitious people trying to carve out their own empire and rise to the top. Even if one person takes control, they often do that at the expense of the original vision for the games, and don't treat people under them well if they are able to contribute good original work that is not their "vision", which probably mostly involves the marketing department. You get these entrenched companies where a few people at the top drive sports cars and get glazed by the press, while the majority are living on instant noodles and are unfulfilled in their work.

 

[YOU PC BRO?!]

Not very good at managing then, are they?

Also game is too late, the gaming world is different now so it would end up as shitty Ubisoft open world game, map icons, crap writing, snarky etc.

You'd get tonal and quality whiplash comparable to watching RoboCop and RoboCop 3 back to back.

Yves Guillemot after reading this comment...

 

[Nelly_Nel_7.1.3]

 

[yurinka]

I suggest to read the original interview, less clickbaity and explains better the context: https://www.superpouvoir.com/entret...yond-good-evil-se-confie-sur-sa-nouvelle-vie/

Of course they're made by many people, directed by few.

Well, in AAA there are several directors. As an example, in this game Ancel was the creative director, and the game director was another guy, plus an art director, tech director etc. And well, in these games there are many game designers and artists in the creative side, there are many dozens if not hundreds of people taking creative decisions in projects like this one in different levels.

To make games is very difficult, and to manage these huge projects even more. Specially like in this case the project aims to go beyond the typical ambitions and wants to be way bigger and and do new things.

 

[NuclearDiarrhea]

I knew this project was fucked when they announced the game for a second time back in 2017 or whatever the fuck it was and Ancel did an interview in which he said he wanted the gaming community to help develop the game by submitting content to be used in game and fans were confused as fuck.

 

[BlackTron]

Well, in AAA there are several directors. As an example, in this game Ancel was the creative director, and the game director was another guy, plus an art director, tech director etc. And well, in these games there are many game designers and artists in the creative side, there are many dozens if not hundreds of people taking creative decisions in projects like this one in different levels.

To make games is very difficult, and to manage these huge projects even more.

The principle that many people work on games is true, but so is that specific individuals are critical for the success of certain games.

I'm sure lots of people would be working on a new MGS with or without Kojima's involvement. I still wouldn't have a speck of faith in it without him. That's just how it goes.

 

[Johnny Concrete]

Well Skull & Bones learned us that:

 

[SMG]

This is comparable to Nomura being forced to quit his brainchild - Final Fantasy Versus XIII -

Nomura is a crappy costume designer, him being given the keys to FF took it from the biggest game franchises to an expensive joke.


Reading f the interview it's amazing anythings gets out of Ubi.

 

[Moses85]

Overhyped and already

 

[yurinka]

The principle that many people work on games is true, but so is that specific individuals are critical for the success of certain games.

I'm sure lots of people would be working on a new MGS with or without Kojima's involvement. I still wouldn't have a speck of faith in it without him. That's just how it goes.

The success of a game depends on a ton of factors, many of them totally unrelated to the dev team. And there are tons of things in the game that can break it or make it suck that don't depend on the few guys on top. Independently of what an executive and manager says or does, if the folks working for it do a shitty game design, art, coding, audio, QA etc. (the game director or creative director doesn't do these things) the game will suck.

Things like the marketing efforts, if the game is released in the appropiate moment and if there is a big enough audience waiting for this type of game are key (as an example sometimes ist too late or too early for it, or got released just after a game that interests more the same audience). Sometimes even mediocre or bad games are super successful or great games tank because of this and not because of the decisions of the dev team.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

I love how game studios give black women Scary Spice hair 90% of the time.

As for development, who cares. UBI putting a lot of effort into a game that will probably sell 1M copies tops

 

[EDMIX]

No one cares now. It's wayyy too late. Younger gamers have no idea what that game is.

This.

At this point, who is this game even for?

StreetsofBeige lolz and agreed to both.

They know 1 hair style and just spam it lol

That studio is even lucky Ubisoft is doing this, this is beyond anything we've seen since maybe Star Citizen, even Sony after The Last Guardian still had to put their foot down with that team, Ubisoft has had this game going on for beyond a decade (no pun intended) To hear about this since 2008 (keep in mind, we don't even know when it started by the time they even made that announcement) this is past 16 years and several console generations.

This is more generous the most would be in a game struggling in development , so shit maybe they do have a management issue. This project needs to just be let go at this point

 

[proandrad]

Shouldn’t everyone be working under the game director? I thought the game director decides on art direction and it’s the art director’s job to accomplish the game director’s vision. This is why Ubisoft is a fucking mess. Does the narrative director work on game mechanics?

 

[deriks]

That could be said for Ubisoft as a whole. It's bad management in every corner there

 

[Saber]

Probably another 5 years to released this thing. Which wouldn't matter because people probably forgot this game was a thing at this point.

 

[neocycle]

Many at Ubisoft should simply be fired for wasting so much money/talent.

 

[Kataploom]

There's no reason for this game to continue being in development, see Ubisoft? That's why you're in trouble, you can't manage your company resources for shit

 

[U n i o n 0015]

No one cares now. It's wayyy too late. Younger gamers have no idea what that game is.

And controversial opinion, the first one wasn't some amazing masterpiece that it calls for a sequel 20 years later.

Much less a sequel that seemingly has none of the elements of the original.

 

[YeulEmeralda]

US and Japanese dev teams have always been culturally better at getting behind one idea and pushing it through to conclusion.

The European mindset tends to sees more ideas generated, and individuals refusing to fully relinquish their idea. This sounds like a case in point.

Dutch corporate culture is that there is no boss. Just endless meetings.