Five years after the game was first announced, but better late than never.
Beyond Good & Evil 2 has a new lead writer five years after the game was first announced. The game’s progress has been unusually slow, leading some to question whether it’s still a growing problem. But today’s announcement makes it clear that Ubisoft still intends to complete the Beyond Good and Evil sequel after so long.
Sarah Arellano updated her twitter Announced as lead writer for Beyond Good & Evil 2. She previously worked at Volition for the upcoming Saints Row reboot before heading to Blizzard as a narrative designer for World of Warcraft.
The development cycle for Beyond Good & Evil 2 was quite long. Ubisoft first released a bombastic trailer in 2017, and has remained silent on the game since. A few videos were released in 2018 and early 2019 showing elements of gameplay and new mechanics, but not much since.
A report in February said Beyond Good and Evil 2 was still in pre-production, and Ubisoft was still hiring for the game as of May. Today’s announcement seems to suggest that if Ubisoft is still hiring for key positions five years later, it’s not all smooth sailing for Beyond Good and Evil 2.
Since Ubisoft was hit with multiple scandals in the summer of 2020, the French developer has struggled to retain talent. A report late last year noted that senior talent had left Ubisoft in a “big evacuation,” with workers calling the cuts a “severed artery.” This has resulted in multiple games being either cancelled or delayed as Ubisoft struggled to retain key talent.
A recent report from A Better Ubisoft noted that the company continues to lose talent as it refuses to make necessary reforms. A year after writing an open letter to Ubisoft management, Better Ubisoft noted that none of its demands had been met.
