'We Remain Committed and Focused': Beyond Good & Evil 2 Creative Director Gives First Statement Since Ubisoft Reorganization

Beyond Good & Evil 2 originative manager Fawzi Mesmar has responded to Ubisoft's sweeping institution reshuffle that resulted successful the cancellation oregon hold of a swathe of crippled projects, arsenic good arsenic workplace closures and layoffs — including a further 200 occupation losses projected astatine the company's Paris office this week.

Writing connected LinkedIn, erstwhile DICE seasoned Mesmar assured fans of Ubisoft's long-in-development Beyond Good & Evil 2 that the task had not been impacted successful the restructure, arsenic had antecedently been expected. Still, the developer said helium was "saddened" by the reorganization's effects connected his colleagues crossed the wider company.

With an on-again, off-again improvement stretching backmost astir 2 decades, Beyond Good & Evil 2 remains an ongoing task wrong Ubisoft, led by its French squad based successful Montpellier.

"Thank you for everyone who has reached retired to maine implicit the past fewer days successful regards to caller quality astatine Ubisoft," Mesmar wrote. "Myself, my squad and our task Beyond Good and Evil 2 are unaffected by the caller changes. I would nonstop you to the authoritative property merchandise for much accusation astir the latest organisational structure."

This property merchandise was the 1 which laid retired Ubisoft leadership's imaginativeness for the institution to beryllium divided into 5 "Creative Houses" that lump the publisher's galore franchises into groups loosely based astir their genre and audience.

Last week, Beyond Good & Evil was announced arsenic being portion of Creative House 4, a radical dedicated to communicative driven and fantasy-orientated bid that besides includes Anno, Might & Magic, Rayman and Prince of Persia (though not the Prince of Persia: Sands of Time Remake, which was canned).

"Needless to say, I americium saddened by the cancellations that has affected my colleagues successful different parts of Ubisoft and the industry," Mesmar continued. "I impulse everyone — myself included — to connection enactment whenever and nevertheless they tin during these times.

"We stay committed and focused connected delivering a singular crippled for our players to enjoy," helium concluded.

Beyond Good & Evil 2 primitively begun aboriginal improvement successful 2007, with bid creator and Rayman mastermind Michel Ancel connected committee alongside the bulk of the Montpellier squad down the archetypal Beyond Good & Evil game. Development was enactment connected the backmost burner portion Ancel's squad worked connected different projects, but Ubisoft re-announced the crippled with fanfare successful 2017 and showed disconnected an in-engine conception featuring abstraction formation and designs to diagnostic aggregate star systems and planets.

Again, however, improvement struggled — and the task was further impacted by Ancel's departure from Ubisoft and the bittersweet decease of its consequent originative pb Emil Morel. But the past mates of years person seen enactment coalesce erstwhile more, with the sequel's characters fixed intriguing cameos successful the caller Beyond Good & Evil 20th Anniversary Edition, and the hiring of Mesmar arsenic originative manager to dependable the ship. That said, 20 years connected from the original, determination remains nary connection connected erstwhile its follow-up volition launch.

Earlier this week, an histrion believed to person been moving connected the Prince of Persia: Sands of Time Remake said that she had mislaid 3 years' worthy of enactment and discovered her task had been canceled aft her member work astir Ubisoft's daze determination online.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You tin scope Tom astatine [email protected] oregon find him connected Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social