In June, on the eve of his release Beyond Good and Evil – 20th Anniversary Editionpublisher Ubisoft made a surprising announcement: The sequel to that game, Beyond good and evil 2, was still in development, the company said. It was the first official update for the sequel, which has been in the works for 17 years, since 2021.
To show he was serious about finally delivering Beyond good and evil 2 at one point, Ubisoft even dropped a new teaser for the sequel to its original remaster Beyond good and evil. A new treasure hunt in the anniversary edition “reveals more about the narrative connection to Beyond good and evil 2showing Ubisoft’s enduring commitment to the franchise,” the company said.
This narrative connection was quickly discovered by players. It shows a holographic message to protagonist Jade from Dakini, Jade’s mother figure and captain of the space pirate ship Gada. In addition to the heartfelt recording, Dakini presents Jade with a variety of artifacts related to the characters that will appear in Beyond good and evil 2 – a remake of the original game.
Artifacts in the collection include a compass from Dakini, a knife from the chimpanzee pirate Knox, a chess piece from engineer Gada Callum, goggles from pilot Yaashan, and a dream catcher from chief medical officer Uma. These characters – all were seen in Beyond good and evil 2The 2018 cinematic trailer – is given additional color in a series of multimedia discs that Jade can collect in the 20th anniversary release.
This new content seems to confirm that Ubisoft plans to stick with the previously revealed cast and setting Beyond good and evil 2, which has seen a series of ups and downs during its absurdly long development timeline. If the version of Beyond good and evil 2 whether it will eventually come out will be the massive open, shared, single-player and co-op universe that was previously promised—or something more modest—remains to be seen.
But for a reminder of how we got here and what Ubisoft has been saying Beyond good and evil 2 over the past decade and a half, read on for a brief history of the game’s development.
Beyond good and evil 2 was first teased in 2007, when then-game director Michel Ancel teased a sequel in the pages of Nintendo Power. “I’m working on a game that means a lot to me,” said Ancel, “where the foundation is immersion and a sense of incredible travel.”
A year later, Ancel himself would later announce the project directly, telling French publication JeuxVideo, “I’ve been working on Beyond good and evil 2. We’ve been in pre-production for a year. […] But for now, it is in the draft stage. Ubisoft has not yet given its approval.”
Ubisoft released the first official look Beyond good and evil 2 at its Ubidays ’08 event, teasing the return of characters Jade and Pey’j, but not outright naming the game as a sequel to Beyond good and evil. The trailer was described by Ubisoft as representing the graphical fidelity of the then-generation consoles: PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.
A year after the official reveal of the sequel, a supposedly leaked trailer of the game was released online by various media outlets. Ubisoft denied it had deliberately leaked the footage, which showed a character – apparently Jade – running through city streets and escaping her pursuers by hijacking a transport helicopter. Ancel confirmed the authenticity of the leaked game in an interview with Geoff Keighley, in what appeared to be an ongoing clash between the game’s director and its publisher over how to promote it Beyond good and evil 2.
For the next decade, the fate of Beyond good and evil 2 it was unclear. Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot and Ancel said in multiple interviews that the game was still in development, but that other projects (Rayman Legends, Wild) had slowed or stopped its progress. Ubisoft president Laurent Detoc sounded more skeptical BG&E 2‘s fate, telling Industry Gamers in 2009, “Whether or not it will come out remains to be seen.”
Beyond good and evil 2 resurfaced in 2016, when Ancel posted concept art for the game on Instagram, hinting at its prequel setting and saying the game was still in “pre-production”. Ubisoft later specified in a Facebook post that BG&E 2 was “under development”.
At E3 2017, Ubisoft reinvented itself Beyond good and evil 2 with a new cinematic trailer that introduced most of the game’s space pirate cast. Ancel and Ubisoft confirmed that the game was a prequel and that players would take on the role of a character of their own creation. They would no longer play as Jade. Ancel also confirmed that previous iterations of the game shown nearly a decade ago were from a narrative continuation and that the game had changed significantly over the past decade.
Ancel also showed a 14-minute gameplay demo of the BG&E 2 that year, which he described as “a mix between a technology demo of the engine we call Voyager, and the actual game with some gameplay elements”.
The game’s 2017 reveal also introduced Ubisoft’s Space Monkey Program, an initiative that was billed as a way for Beyond Good & Evil fans to “create art and music that will be integrated directly into the game.”
“The BGE community has already created incredible fan art, fantasy, cosplay, music, [and] videos over the years, so we thought about ways to be more inclusive for all members of the community,” reads Ubisoft’s description of the program. “Through our partnership with HitRecord, the community can participate even more directly in the creation of our game.”
HitRecord is actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s company and website that serves as “a collaboration hub for a community full of people who want to make all kinds of art together,” according to Gordon-Levitt. The Space Monkey program and the inclusion of HitRecord immediately drew backlash, as it appeared that Ubisoft was asking its fans to contribute unpaid work and specific work to the creation of Beyond good and evil 2with the only return being the promise of “special events and demonstrations and [to] be the first to play the game.”
In 2018, Ubisoft released a second cinematic trailer exploring the Gada space pirate crew and teasing the return of a younger Jade.
After that, Ubisoft and Ancel went silent again on the development of the game. In September 2020, Ancel announced on Instagram that he had completely left Ubisoft, but that “[for] many months now [Beyond Good and Evil 2 and Wild] The teams are autonomous and the projects are going super well.” The following month, Ancel said he had not worked directly with the Ubisoft Montpellier team for nearly two years and said he would only be working on the game in an advisory role. This update was in response to a report in French newspaper Libération that had alleged harsh working conditions in the game and chaotic management by Ancel.
In 2021, Ubisoft offered a cursory update on the sequel, saying in a financial statement that Beyond good and evil 2 development was “progressing well”. But in 2023, the game suffered a terrible blow; its creative director, Emile Morel, died suddenly at the age of 40. Beyond Good and Evil – 20th Anniversary Edition includes a small tribute to Morel: a bouquet of flowers and a card for the veteran game designer.
The release of Beyond Good and Evil – 20th Anniversary Edition and its new narrative ties to the prequel (now) is the strongest commitment we’ve seen from Ubisoft in years that fans will finally get a new game in the franchise. Outside of Jade and Pey’j’s cameo appearances in the animated series Captain Laserhawkis the only sign of life from Ubisoft regarding the pickup BG&E 2 over the finish line. But considering the publisher’s unwavering commitment to games like For honor, Rainbow Six Siegeand languishing Prince of Persia: Sands of Time remake, there is reason to believe so Beyond good and evil 2 it will finally get here. One day.