Ubisoft developer Michel Ancel is best known as the creator of the long-running Rayman franchise, but also spearheaded the action-adventure title Beyond Good & Evil way back in 2003. Despite garnering critical praise and being set up as the first in a franchise, underwhelming sales caused plans for any sequels to grind to a halt. The game gradually built a cult following over the next few years, and in 2008, Ubisoft and Ancel finally confirmed that Beyond Good & Evil 2 had begun development via a brief teaser, also releasing an HD remaster of the original in 2011.
Unfortunately, the announcement was followed by almost a decade of silence. Ancel seemed to shift his focus to developing Rayman Origins and Rayman Legends, and while he and Ubisoft reps often stated that the long-awaited sequel was still on the way, it seemed that proper development had been put on the backburner. Ancel establishing his own studio, Wild Sheep, and announcing Wild for the PS4, added to the likelihood.
This started to change over the past week, when Ancel began posting what appeared to be concept art on his Instagram profile featuring anthropomorphic animals and sci-fi elements similar to the first BG&E, while making statements about pre-production and thank yous to Ubisoft without dropping a title. As of this morning, the cat seems officially out of the bag, as the following post was made on the official Beyond Good & Evil Facebook page.
How deep into development and when we can expect to hear more details on the sequel remains unclear, but considering how dead quiet news for the game has gone since its initial confirmation, this is encouraging for those hoping for signs of progress. Ancel and Ubisoft have stated several times that they want to put their all into heroine Jade’s second adventure rather than rushing things, and considering that the first title is over a decade old, hopefully we’re in the home stretch of one of the longest waits in gaming history.
