Beyond Good & Evil 2: After 18 Years, Assassin's Creed Writer Confirms Game Is Still Alive
Eighteen years after its very first teaser, Beyond Good & Evil 2 stubbornly refuses to fade away. Even as Ubisoft navigates one of the most turbulent restructuring periods in its corporate history and cancels multiple projects, the longest-gestating game in industry history just surfaced with unexpected vital signs.
This update does not come from an anonymous forum leak or an unverified rumor. A senior narrative lead at Ubisoft has publicly confirmed that he is actively working on the title.
Official Confirmation From an Assassin's Creed Shadows Lead
Rik Godwin, Lead Writer and Associate Narrative Director at Ubisoft Bordeaux, shared the news directly on his official BlueSky account. Godwin, who holds key writing responsibilities on massive productions including Assassin's Creed Shadows and the Ghost Recon franchise, formalized his role on the sci-fi project:
"A bit of an un-announcement, but for the past few months I've been working on Beyond Good & Evil 2 in a support / narrative consultation role. I'm allowed to say this, I checked."
(Rik Godwin, Associate Narrative Director at Ubisoft, on BlueSky)
That management green light is critical. At Ubisoft, communications surrounding high-profile franchises are tightly monitored, confirming that active production on this massive space opera remains an officially sanctioned priority.
Surviving 18 Years in Limbo and Studio Cutbacks
Beyond Good & Evil 2 holds a Guinness World Record that will be hard to beat: the longest development cycle in video game history. First revealed in 2008 and reintroduced to massive fanfare at E3 2017, the game has surpassed 18 years in production, easily eclipsing Duke Nukem Forever and its 14-year saga.
Crafted by French animation powerhouse Unit Image, this cinematic masterpiece remains one of the most exhilarating reveals in video game showcase history. Featuring Knox the rogue hybrid monkey, Shani the fearless space pirate, the colossal mothership Gada, and an emotional Michel Ancel fighting back tears on the E3 stage, the trailer instantly reignited hope across the gaming world.
The journey has been marked by profound creative shifts and heartbreaking loss. Original creator Michel Ancel departed the company in September 2020, and the Montpellier team suffered an immense blow with the tragic passing of creative director Emile Morel in the summer of 2023.
Yet, amidst aggressive cost-cutting measures that led Ubisoft to cancel high-profile efforts like the Prince of Persia The Sands of Time remake and The Division Heartland, developers at Ubisoft Montpellier and Bordeaux remain hard at work. This endurance reflects broader structural adjustments across the publisher, parallel to Ubisoft scrapping the mandatory Connect launcher on Steam to rebuild goodwill with PC players.
Editorial Perspective
Like countless players who wore out their GameCube and PS2 controllers on the 2003 original, I hold a deep appreciation for the world of Jade and Pey'j. That classic carried an intimate charm, an incredible soundtrack, and a distinct artistic identity that few modern games ever manage to capture.
Watching Beyond Good & Evil 2 survive multiple rounds of restructuring and layoffs at Ubisoft commands genuine respect for the developers keeping the torch lit in Montpellier and Bordeaux. Still, we have to remain clear-headed. Between the grandiose promise of a seamless multiplayer galaxy and the reality of a nearly twenty-year pipeline, big questions remain.
If this game finally lands in players' hands before 2030, it will face the monumental challenge of proving that the soul of the original can survive inside an immense modern sandbox.
SEO consultant for over 20 years and digital entrepreneur, Charles 'Grimtag' Ronchain is the founder of Pro-Gamer.gg, Retrocharting.com, and Gamescharting.com. A competitive gamer, streamer, and retro game collector, he has worked in the video game industry for over 15 years, notably as a consultant for leading game price comparison platforms. Passionate about real-time performance data and gaming technology, he analyzes competitive esports, gaming hardware benchmarks, and creator workflows on Pro-Gamer.gg with an authentic player perspective.
