Michel Ancel Says Beyond Good & Evil 2 Development Issues Due To "Problems Between Managers"

Image: Ubisoft

Former Ubisoft designer and creator of Rayman and Beyond Good & Evil Michel Ancel has lifted the lid on part of Beyond Good & Evil 2's troubled development.

In an interview with French outlet Superpouvoir (via VGC), the ex-Ubisoft employee, who left in 2020 to work at a wildlife sanctuary, Ancel said "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."

Ancel highlights a handful of clashes and changes among the development team, including the art director who "wanted to redo everything over and over again", the game's director who apparently "wanted to make a generated dungeon game", which was the opposite of what Ancel wanted. Ancel was previously the director of the game, before he left Ubifost.

“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," Ancel continues, saying that, in his eyes "The producer is supposed to bring order to the situation, but that didn’t happen."

He tells Superpouvoir that Yves Guillemot, co-founder, CEO, and chairman of Ubisoft, had to come down to the Montpellier studio "to get things back on track" but that wasn't enough, and the current game director "continued in his stubbornness." He also wishes he'd spoken out more, and said "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."

While he puts the development issues down to "passionate managers not getting along", he says that he believes that most of the people mentioned "were dismissed" and a new balance has been found with new managers.

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

At the time of Ancel's departure, French newspaper Libération published a report that accused the creator of toxic leadership on Beyond Good & Evil 2. Ancel acknowledged the report and claimed he was working with investigators but strongly denied the accusations. This also happened months after allegations of abuse, harassment, and sexual misconduct — five former executives were later arrested in 2023.

Despite leaving Ubisoft over four years ago, Michel Ancel has since reunited with the developer and is working alongside the Montpellier-based studio on a new Rayman project.

Of course, this is all happening amongst even more turmoil for Ubisoft, which includes discussions with Tencent on buyout terms following a poor year for profits.

Beyond Good & Evil 2 does indeed exist, readers — Ubisoft reconfirmed this earlier in the year following the release of Beyond Good & Evil: 20th Anniversary Edition, an enhanced release of the cult GameCube game. We don't know what platforms the game will come to, or if it's even Nintendo-bound, but at this rate, we're surely looking at the next generation.

Do you think we'll see Beyond Good & Evil 2 in the next year? Share your thoughts below.