Emerging evidence suggests that Beyond Good and Evil 2 may not have left development hell just yet. This update on the long-delayed project comes just months after Ubisoft confirmed that Beyond Good and Evil 2 is still in development.
The sequel to Beyond Good and Evil debuted 15 years ago, initially teased at E3 2017. Since then, Ubisoft has made little progress on the project, highlighted by the fact that Beyond Good and Evil 2 recently overtook Duke Nukem to become the longest-delayed AAA game in history.
Ubisoft Barcelona’s April 18 job listing now offers some new insight into the troubled project, though its implications appear to be bad news for fans. The post advertises a job opening for a senior concept artist who will be working on Beyond Good and Evil 2, a title that suggests the game is far from finished. Especially since concept artists are mainly involved in the pre-production phase of game development, as the main purpose of their work is to provide references for modelers, environment artists and animators.
Ubisoft marked Beyond Good and Evil 2 as “active development” in July 2022, ahead of the latest confirmation that the game is still in development. The term originated in the film industry and is often used to classify projects that have left pre-production, although this newly emerged listing suggests that’s not the case here, or that Beyond Good and Evil 2 has returned to drawing sometime since last summer. plate. Alternatively, Ubisoft may have simply used a more liberal definition of “active development” at the time.
The newly unearthed job listing may also provide a clue as to why Beyond Good and Evil 2 is still stuck at the stage where it needs concept art. That said, the post notes that Ubisoft Barcelona is currently working on multiple “unannounced AAA projects” in addition to supporting Rainbow Six: Siege and participating in the Beyond Good and Evil sequel. That’s a lot for a company with fewer than 200 employees, according to its official LinkedIn page.
On the other hand, most of Ubisoft’s major games have long featured corporate studios from around the world, and Beyond Good and Evil 2 is no exception. This long-delayed venture is actually spearheaded by Ubisoft Montpellier, according to previous shareholder disclosures, suggesting its Spanish sister company is at best assisting the project. However, the fact that Beyond Good and Evil 2’s lead developer is currently under labor investigation doesn’t exactly fuel hopes that the game will be out anytime soon, regardless of Ubisoft’s recent job market activity.
Beyond Good and Evil 2 is in development.