Beyond Good & Evil 2
Encyclopedia
Beyond Good & Evil 2 or BG&E2, is the sequel to the 2003
video game Beyond Good & Evil, currently in development by Ubisoft Montpellier and published by Ubisoft
. Michel Ancel
, the creator of the original game, is back as lead designer of the sequel. Intended as the first part of a trilogy
, the original Beyond Good & Evil won critical acclaim but failed to gain commercial success. As such, the status of BG&E2 was unknown for several years until it was unveiled at Ubidays 2008 in the Louvre
in Paris, France, on May 28, 2008.
Since its first revelation BG&E2s development has been characterized in the gaming media by uncertainty, doubt and rumours about the game's future. On May 28, 2010, a French website claimed to have insider information of Michel Ancel leaving Ubisoft Montpellier, thus putting BG&E2 on hold. However this was denied by Ubisoft representatives shortly thereafter. Appearing at the Montpellier in Game conference on June 25, 2010, Ancel stated that the game is in development and that they are experimenting with new development practices to keep the development team small and preserve its artistic spirit. As such, the development will take "a while", but Ancel encouraged listeners to be patient. In 2011, it was revealed that Ancel and his team took a break from the development of the game to work on Rayman Origins
.
Speaking at an exclusive Ubisoft dinner, Ancel stated that BG&E2 is far into development but is currently targeting a release on the next generation of consoles (Nintendo's next generation console Wii U, and successors to the PlayStation 3
and Xbox 360
which have not yet been announced).
of games. Michel Ancel has stated that he wrote the story of the Beyond Good & Evil-universe to be longer than what is included in the first game, but because of the poor sales of the original game, Ubisoft was reluctant to invest in a sequel
.
Michel Ancel first gave a hint about Beyond Good & Evil 2 in an interview with Nintendo Power
, where he confirmed that he was working on a new project that means a lot to him. He also talked about Jade (the protagonist from the original game) and said that he really hopes that she will continue to keep her values and her personality.
Many rumours about a possible sequel appeared after the release of the first game, all of which seemed to be false until May 2008 when Ubisoft revealed a teaser trailer for Ubisoft Montpellier's new project which featured characters and remixed music from the original Beyond Good & Evil.
Michel Ancel first talked about Beyond Good & Evil 2 being in production in an interview with the French magazine Jeux Vidéo Magazine, where he stated that the game has been in pre-production
for a year, but was yet to be approved by Ubisoft. Less than two weeks later, a teaser trailer
of the game, recorded entirely inside the game's engine
, was shown at Ubidays. However, the game was presented only as the next project of Michel Ancel and Ubisoft Montpellier; no specific details, release date or title was announced. The trailer, showing off the highly advanced graphics of the game engine, depicts a broken-down hover-car
on the shoulder
of a desert
road. Beside the vehicle sits Pey'j, one of the supporting characters from the original game. A woman resembling Jade, the protagonist, sits on the trunk in the background. Not much is revealed about the game itself. The Jeux Vidéo Magazine article also stated that Beyond Good & Evil 2 is under development for PlayStation 3
and Xbox 360
, but this is not confirmed.
On December 18, 2008, at the VGL
event in Paris, Ancel stated that Beyond Good & Evil 2 has been under development for a year and a half and that the development team have received total freedom from Ubisoft
, giving them the opportunity to make the game how they want.
In an interview on March 21, 2009, Ancel stated that the game was still in pre-production and that they would not start actual development until they had decided on all the tools and processes needed to realize their vision of the game.
On May 8, 2009, a video was released onto the Internet showing a character resembling Jade running through a city, dodging its police force. On July 22, 2009, Laurent Detoc, CEO of Ubisoft North America, confirmed that the video had been leaked but said that this was not done intentionally. He continued to state that they had started working on Beyond Good & Evil 2 because they didn't want to abandon the IP
as it has a cachet and authenticity about it, but also emphasized that although they are definitely working on the game it doesn't necessarily mean it's ever going to be released; that's something the future will decide. The authenticity of the trailer was confirmed by Michel Ancel at E3 2011..
During the Gamescom
convention in August 2009, Ubisoft representatives stated that the game's development was officially on-hold. However, shortly after the convention Ubisoft stated in an interview that work on the title had been neither abandoned nor put on hold. When fans asked for clarifications regarding the mixed signals coming from Ubisoft, a UK forum manager stated that it wasn't technically possible for the game to be delayed since it had not actually been officially announced. In November 2009, Geoffroy Sardin, the General Director of Ubisoft France, said that the rumours about the game being put on hold were false and that development was still on-going. This was confirmed again in January 2010 by Ubisoft representatives talking to IGN
.
On May 28, 2010 (exactly two years after the initial announcement) the French website Wootgaming claimed to have insider information of Michel Ancel leaving Ubisoft Montpellier due to internal problems with the development of BG&E2, and consequently putting the game's development on hold. The rumours were later denied, however, by Ubisoft PR representatives, as well as sources within the studio, and reassured that BG&E2 is still under development.
On June 25, 2010, Michel Ancel appeared at the Montpellier in Game conference and spoke about BG&E2. He assured that the game in fact still is in development, but is being worked at by a relatively small number of people and thus will take a while to finish. Ancel wants to keep the development team as small as possible to preserve BG&E2s artistic spirit and avoid it becoming just a commercial product. The team has been working on tools that will enable developers to create 3D-games in a similar way as the tools being used for the 2D-game Rayman: Origins, which is worked on by only five people.
On Aug 19, 2010, Yves Guillemot, CEO of Ubisoft, told Kotaku that work continues on the highly anticipated sequel to 2003's Beyond Good & Evil and had never stopped. We were, as we are, working on the game. What is very important with this next product is that it will be perfect.
The HD re-release of the original game was released in March 2011 on Xbox Live Arcade
and in June 2011 on PlayStation Network. The producer of the updated version, Wang Xu, said to "keep the faith" for the sequel. He has also said that he doesn't know if the HD version is used to test how customers feel about the franchise.
On June 7, 2011, Ancel revealed that he plans to develop BG&E2 for the next generation of consoles, which have yet to be announced.
On April 3 Eurogamer.net published a translated interview with Ancel talking about the inspirations behind Beyond Good & Evil and its sequel:
He also answered the question of whether or not the game will be a direct sequel
to the first game:
Ancel also talked about the sequel being more immersive and complex compared to the original, largely because of the possibilities of current-generation hardware, but as a result will take longer to develop.
2003 in video gaming
-Events:*February 27 — Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences hosts 6th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards; inducts Yu Suzuki of Sega to the AIAS Hall of Fame....
video game Beyond Good & Evil, currently in development by Ubisoft Montpellier and published by Ubisoft
Ubisoft
Ubisoft Entertainment S.A. is a major French video game publisher and developer, with headquarters in Montreuil, France. The company has a worldwide presence with 25 studios in 17 countries and subsidiaries in 26 countries....
. Michel Ancel
Michel Ancel
Michel Ancel is a French video game designer for Ubisoft. He is best known for creating the Rayman franchise for which he was the lead designer for the first two games, and which as of 2008 has sold the most units for the publisher. He is also known for the cult favourite Beyond Good & Evil and...
, the creator of the original game, is back as lead designer of the sequel. Intended as the first part of a trilogy
Trilogy
A trilogy is a set of three works of art that are connected, and that can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature, film, or video games...
, the original Beyond Good & Evil won critical acclaim but failed to gain commercial success. As such, the status of BG&E2 was unknown for several years until it was unveiled at Ubidays 2008 in the Louvre
Louvre
The Musée du Louvre – in English, the Louvre Museum or simply the Louvre – is one of the world's largest museums, the most visited art museum in the world and a historic monument. A central landmark of Paris, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the 1st arrondissement...
in Paris, France, on May 28, 2008.
Since its first revelation BG&E2s development has been characterized in the gaming media by uncertainty, doubt and rumours about the game's future. On May 28, 2010, a French website claimed to have insider information of Michel Ancel leaving Ubisoft Montpellier, thus putting BG&E2 on hold. However this was denied by Ubisoft representatives shortly thereafter. Appearing at the Montpellier in Game conference on June 25, 2010, Ancel stated that the game is in development and that they are experimenting with new development practices to keep the development team small and preserve its artistic spirit. As such, the development will take "a while", but Ancel encouraged listeners to be patient. In 2011, it was revealed that Ancel and his team took a break from the development of the game to work on Rayman Origins
Rayman Origins
Rayman Origins is a platform game developed and published by Ubisoft for PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360, Nintendo 3DS and PlayStation Vita. The game was released on November 15, 2011 in North America, November 24, 2011 in Australia and November 25, 2011 in Europe for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii....
.
Speaking at an exclusive Ubisoft dinner, Ancel stated that BG&E2 is far into development but is currently targeting a release on the next generation of consoles (Nintendo's next generation console Wii U, and successors to the PlayStation 3
PlayStation 3
The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
and Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
which have not yet been announced).
Development
The original Beyond Good & Evil game was meant to be the first of a trilogyTrilogy
A trilogy is a set of three works of art that are connected, and that can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature, film, or video games...
of games. Michel Ancel has stated that he wrote the story of the Beyond Good & Evil-universe to be longer than what is included in the first game, but because of the poor sales of the original game, Ubisoft was reluctant to invest in a sequel
Sequel
A sequel is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, film, theatre, or music that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work...
.
Michel Ancel first gave a hint about Beyond Good & Evil 2 in an interview with Nintendo Power
Nintendo Power
Nintendo Power magazine is a monthly news and strategy magazine formerly published in-house by Nintendo of America, but now run independently. As of issue #222 , Nintendo contracted publishing duties to Future US, the U.S. subsidiary of British publisher Future.The first issue published was...
, where he confirmed that he was working on a new project that means a lot to him. He also talked about Jade (the protagonist from the original game) and said that he really hopes that she will continue to keep her values and her personality.
Many rumours about a possible sequel appeared after the release of the first game, all of which seemed to be false until May 2008 when Ubisoft revealed a teaser trailer for Ubisoft Montpellier's new project which featured characters and remixed music from the original Beyond Good & Evil.
Announcement
Pre-production
Pre-production or In Production is the process of preparing all the elements involved in a film, play, or other performance.- In film :...
for a year, but was yet to be approved by Ubisoft. Less than two weeks later, a teaser trailer
Teaser trailer
A teaser campaign is an advertising campaign which typically consists of a series of small, cryptic, challenging advertisements that anticipate a larger, full-blown campaign for a product launch or otherwise important event. These advertisements are called "teasers" or "teaser ads"...
of the game, recorded entirely inside the game's engine
Game engine
A game engine is a system designed for the creation and development of video games. There are many game engines that are designed to work on video game consoles and personal computers...
, was shown at Ubidays. However, the game was presented only as the next project of Michel Ancel and Ubisoft Montpellier; no specific details, release date or title was announced. The trailer, showing off the highly advanced graphics of the game engine, depicts a broken-down hover-car
Automobile
An automobile, autocar, motor car or car is a wheeled motor vehicle used for transporting passengers, which also carries its own engine or motor...
on the shoulder
Shoulder (road)
A hard shoulder, or simply shoulder, is a reserved area by the verge of a road or motorway. Generally it is kept clear of motor vehicle traffic...
of a desert
Desert
A desert is a landscape or region that receives an extremely low amount of precipitation, less than enough to support growth of most plants. Most deserts have an average annual precipitation of less than...
road. Beside the vehicle sits Pey'j, one of the supporting characters from the original game. A woman resembling Jade, the protagonist, sits on the trunk in the background. Not much is revealed about the game itself. The Jeux Vidéo Magazine article also stated that Beyond Good & Evil 2 is under development for PlayStation 3
PlayStation 3
The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
and Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
, but this is not confirmed.
On December 18, 2008, at the VGL
Video Games Live
Video Games Live is a concert series created and produced by industry veterans and video game composers Tommy Tallarico and Jack Wall. The concerts consist of segments of video game music performed by a live orchestra with video footage and synchronized lighting and effects, as well as several...
event in Paris, Ancel stated that Beyond Good & Evil 2 has been under development for a year and a half and that the development team have received total freedom from Ubisoft
Ubisoft
Ubisoft Entertainment S.A. is a major French video game publisher and developer, with headquarters in Montreuil, France. The company has a worldwide presence with 25 studios in 17 countries and subsidiaries in 26 countries....
, giving them the opportunity to make the game how they want.
In an interview on March 21, 2009, Ancel stated that the game was still in pre-production and that they would not start actual development until they had decided on all the tools and processes needed to realize their vision of the game.
On May 8, 2009, a video was released onto the Internet showing a character resembling Jade running through a city, dodging its police force. On July 22, 2009, Laurent Detoc, CEO of Ubisoft North America, confirmed that the video had been leaked but said that this was not done intentionally. He continued to state that they had started working on Beyond Good & Evil 2 because they didn't want to abandon the IP
Intellectual property
Intellectual property is a term referring to a number of distinct types of creations of the mind for which a set of exclusive rights are recognized—and the corresponding fields of law...
as it has a cachet and authenticity about it, but also emphasized that although they are definitely working on the game it doesn't necessarily mean it's ever going to be released; that's something the future will decide. The authenticity of the trailer was confirmed by Michel Ancel at E3 2011..
During the Gamescom
Gamescom
gamescom is a trade fair for video games held annually at the Koelnmesse in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is organised by the Bundesverband Interaktive Unterhaltungssoftware...
convention in August 2009, Ubisoft representatives stated that the game's development was officially on-hold. However, shortly after the convention Ubisoft stated in an interview that work on the title had been neither abandoned nor put on hold. When fans asked for clarifications regarding the mixed signals coming from Ubisoft, a UK forum manager stated that it wasn't technically possible for the game to be delayed since it had not actually been officially announced. In November 2009, Geoffroy Sardin, the General Director of Ubisoft France, said that the rumours about the game being put on hold were false and that development was still on-going. This was confirmed again in January 2010 by Ubisoft representatives talking to IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
.
On May 28, 2010 (exactly two years after the initial announcement) the French website Wootgaming claimed to have insider information of Michel Ancel leaving Ubisoft Montpellier due to internal problems with the development of BG&E2, and consequently putting the game's development on hold. The rumours were later denied, however, by Ubisoft PR representatives, as well as sources within the studio, and reassured that BG&E2 is still under development.
On June 25, 2010, Michel Ancel appeared at the Montpellier in Game conference and spoke about BG&E2. He assured that the game in fact still is in development, but is being worked at by a relatively small number of people and thus will take a while to finish. Ancel wants to keep the development team as small as possible to preserve BG&E2s artistic spirit and avoid it becoming just a commercial product. The team has been working on tools that will enable developers to create 3D-games in a similar way as the tools being used for the 2D-game Rayman: Origins, which is worked on by only five people.
On Aug 19, 2010, Yves Guillemot, CEO of Ubisoft, told Kotaku that work continues on the highly anticipated sequel to 2003's Beyond Good & Evil and had never stopped. We were, as we are, working on the game. What is very important with this next product is that it will be perfect.
The HD re-release of the original game was released in March 2011 on Xbox Live Arcade
Xbox Live Arcade
Xbox Live Arcade is a type of video game download distribution available primarily in a section of the Xbox Live Marketplace, Microsoft's digital distribution network for the Xbox 360, that focuses on smaller downloadable games from both major publishers and independent game developers...
and in June 2011 on PlayStation Network. The producer of the updated version, Wang Xu, said to "keep the faith" for the sequel. He has also said that he doesn't know if the HD version is used to test how customers feel about the franchise.
On June 7, 2011, Ancel revealed that he plans to develop BG&E2 for the next generation of consoles, which have yet to be announced.
Cast
It is currently unknown if the cast of the original Beyond Good & Evil is coming back to work on Beyond Good & Evil 2. However, it is confirmed that composer Christophe Héral, who scored the music for the original game, will be returning. In an interview with Jeux Vidéo Magazine, Ancel stated that a small team had already been working on the pre-production for a year.Target audience
In an interview with Next-Gen, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot stated that Beyond Good & Evil 2 will be made more accessible to the new generation of gamers, in an effort to make sure the sequel does not suffer the same commercial failure the original did. Guillemot clarified that statement later on, saying that they do not intend to make the game more casual game orientated.Plot and setting
In the interview with Jeux Vidéo Magazine, Michel Ancel stated:
"[Beyond Good & Evil 2 will] be in continuity with the first game, with a big variety of levels, lots of emotion in the gameplay, and characters we care about. This time we are dealing with planet's future, and the relationship with animals..."
On April 3 Eurogamer.net published a translated interview with Ancel talking about the inspirations behind Beyond Good & Evil and its sequel:
"It was a mix of experiences. It was a phantasm to create an adventure game, a universe too. It was the game I wanted to create for a long time. [...] There were a lot of inspirations: the Miyazaki universe, my own inspirations, politics and the media; the theme of September 11 – the CNN show with army messages and the fear climate. And it was a mix from other universes."
He also answered the question of whether or not the game will be a direct sequel
Sequel
A sequel is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, film, theatre, or music that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work...
to the first game:
"Yes! But it is better to discover that when you play, ha ha! But it is clear we want to continue the story – we won't create characters, story. The story continues and we'll react on important events of the first."
Ancel also talked about the sequel being more immersive and complex compared to the original, largely because of the possibilities of current-generation hardware, but as a result will take longer to develop.
"We'll conserve the spirit of the first game, but the form will change. For [BG&E], we wanted to create a more cinematographic game, but we didn't have the technical ability to do that. So we simplified. It was fun, because I remember we had to work for Sony to demonstrate how original our game was in order to get the development kit. We wrote BG&E like we were in a film. After, we understood it would be very tricky reach that immersion on that console! But now, with the next-gen consoles, we feel it is possible to develop the game we thought of for the first. [...] It is very difficult to answer [when the game's going to be released]: there is an unknown aspect."