Beyond Good & Evil 2’s troubled development was due to “passionate managers” not getting along, the series’ creator Michel Ancel has said.
The sequel to the cult classic adventure has been in development for almost 20 years (the longest in history), and has continued despite Ancel leaving Ubisoft back in 2020 due to retirement. His departure followed an investigation into allegations of toxic leadership by French newspaper Libération.
Ancel has not spoken publicly about the game’s development since, but in a new interview with French outlet SuperPouvoir he has now discussed some of the tensions and accusations made against him.
Passion is a “fabulous energy”, said Ancel, but can also lead to clashes. For BG&E2, he stated how the game’s art director had wanted to redo everything over and over, that the game’s director had wanted a game of generated dungeons, while he “dreamed of a space adventure”.
The trio were unable to agree on a direction, with the development team left not knowing who was ultimately in charge. Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot even visited the Montpellier studio, Ancel said, but it wasn’t enough and “the game director continued in his stubbornness”, said Ancel.
“When I read in Libé that I was the one who was directing the game and asking for changes, I thought I was choking,” Ancel said. “BG&E2 is the game on which I think I have never questioned a decision.
“In the end, it is all a matter of passionate managers who have not gotten along. I believe that for some time now, these people have been let go and the project has found a certain balance with new leaders.”
Ancel added there’s a “huge difference” between developing BG&E2 with new technology, and a project with established technology. This complexity “exceeded many people at Ubisoft”.
He surmised there was no “single big villain” but multiple concerns left unresolved with managers. “I have my share of responsibility and I should have defended the project better, been more present and more conciliatory with the employees,” he concluded.
According to the Libération report into Ancel’s toxic leadership, his management of the project resulted in constant changes and fluctuations in scope, leading to “an unusual amount of [staff] exhaustion, depression, and burnout”.
Ancel also discussed the end of WiLD, the project from his Wild Sheep studio originally announced in 2014 that was reported as having been cancelled in 2021.
Though a playable version had been established in 2018, Ancel said the studio chose to upgrade the game from PS4 to PS5. However, despite Sony offering double Ubisoft’s budgets to take on the game as publisher, it was turned down and remained with Ubisoft.
This was during Ancel’s burnout and subsequent departure from the industry. Without him there to defend the game, he said, it was “crushed” by Ubisoft due to changes made “without really playing the game”, which Ancel described as “a real scandal”. The game was later abandoned in 2020 due to no longer matching the original vision.
He added the “editorial department was in full explosion” at this time due to Ubisoft’s internal investigation into former editorial vice president Tommy François who had overseen development of WiLD, who was reportedly then fired.
Ancel joked 2018 was therefore “the beginning of the end” for both WiLD and BG&E2, in his eyes.
Beyond Good & Evil 2 remains in development, it was confirmed again in October this year, with a new creative director once again at the helm.
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