French outlet Origami Media reported that Ubisoft is still keeping Beyond Good & Evil 2 in pre-production 18 years after its first teaser at UbiDays, turning BGE2 into a solo-first story with optional co-op play. The game has not entered full production despite years of public interest, and at least 250 staff members at Ubisoft Montpellier are now trying to push the build into an alpha stage [1]. Francesco De Meo at Wccftech noted that the project became the poster child of development hell after Duke Nukem Forever finally shipped [2].
Shift to Solo Adventure
The design behind Beyond Good & Evil 2 dropped its old vision of a connected galaxy to focus on a single-player story. Between 2019 and 2022, Ubisoft pitched BGE2 as a connected space playground where friends met after work on many planets, drawing direct inspiration from Fortnite and Destiny to turn the game into a shared social space. In those early pitches, the player took the role of a blank recruit who tagged along in the passenger seat beside the main heroes [1].
Group sizes shrank over time. Ubisoft Montpellier moved from huge public lobbies to four-player squads, then down to pairs, and finally settled on a “solo-first” format that cuts out any mandatory online connection and keeps optional co-op play. In this current build, melee combat feels very similar to Insomniac’s Spider-Man games, leaving behind earlier comparisons to a space adventure in the style of Zelda [1].
According to Origami Media, translated by DeepL, this pivot follows years of creative drift. Directors kept shifting their goals whenever an internal demo failed to impress testers. Leads pushed back review dates to tinker with melee fights and flight models, leaving BGE2 without a steady identity [1]. As Francesco De Meo reported for Wccftech, internal teams suffered a “complete loss of understanding of what this project should be” [2].
Beyond Good & Evil 2 Pre-Production Delays
Although Ubisoft first showed a CGI teaser at the Paris-based UbiDays event in 2008, BGE2 has not reached full production under company standards. It stays in pre-production at Ubisoft Montpellier (involving at least 250 people at that office alone), where developers work on basic systems rather than final stages [1]. At major gaming firms, production only starts after core mechanics and toolsets are locked down [2].
Ubisoft Montpellier is now trying to pass an internal milestone called a “gate” to enter alpha testing, which marks the stage where game systems are finished so artists can focus on making playable content [2]. Over the past decade, BGE2 missed these review gates again and again because team leaders could not agree on what the adventure should be [1]. Origami Media described the cycle as a car stuck on a highway with no exit, unable to reach the starting line of real production. “In truth, it’s not the finish line that’s been receding all these years,” the report stated, explaining that staff spent years redefining its core design from scratch as creative goals kept drifting away [2]. When each gate approached, leads asked if the loop felt fun or fresh, pushed the deadline back, and restarted work on combat systems [1].
Review gates were missed repeatedly [1]. Wccftech explained that passing this new gate means finalizing the game framework and shifting staff toward playable content. For over ten years, developers adjusted flight physics, but core campaign levels sat unbuilt [2].
Combat and Engine Systems
Engineers built the game on Ubisoft’s proprietary Voyager engine, giving BGE2 a strong technical base. But software tools cannot fix a game when directors lack a clear goal [2]. Robert Purchese at Eurogamer.net noted that BGE2 survived for so long because Ubisoft provided unwavering backing. Origami Media reported that several people within Ubisoft called that endless funding “something of a poison” because having no fear of cancellation removed the urgency to ship [1].
BGE2 came closest to public hands during E3 in 2018, when Ubisoft showed a behind-closed-doors demo to reporters and promised a playable beta by late 2019. The beta never arrived. Official news dried up for years [1]. A new creative director took charge, and job ads appeared in late 2025, but Montpellier has not shown new footage of its reworked Spider-Man style brawler combat [2].
Developers who spent years on BGE2 doubt that anyone can solve its problems as work continues. “I don’t think we’ll ever pinpoint the root cause of BGE2’s problems while the project is still active, whether it gets released or not,” said a source who spent six years working on the game. The worker added that a “colossal postmortem” will be needed to explain why work dragged on for so long without a clear path forward [2].
Ubisoft Restructuring
That safety net is now gone as Ubisoft deals with major corporate pressure and cuts costs across global branches. Recent cuts led to the closure of Trials studio RedLynx, layoffs at German offices, and deep staff cuts on the Assassin’s Creed Black Flag Resynced team at Ubisoft Singapore. Montpellier developers can no longer count on total protection from corporate managers [1].
Managers are now telling staff that the future of the game is uncertain. One worker called this a “return to a sense of reality” after years of unchecked delays [1]. If the current alpha review fails, some developers fear executives could cancel BGE2 instead of paying for another reboot [2].
Ubisoft has adjusted its production slate across several brands, including when Ubisoft detailed Echoes of Central Park for The Division 2. With corporate bosses checking budgets closely, Montpellier must show that its solo story can turn into a real game [1]. The next gate review will decide if the team moves into full production or faces cancellation [2].
BGE2 Development Record
In 2022, BGE2 broke the record for the longest development cycle in video game history by passing the 14-year wait for Duke Nukem Forever, which Gearbox had eventually finished after buying the rights. Duke Nukem eventually shipped, but Beyond Good & Evil 2 has stayed in pre-production at Ubisoft for 18 years. Early plans targeted the PC, PS4, and Xbox One, but console hardware moved on as Montpellier restarted its work [1].
Can a game survive almost two decades of resets and still deliver a fun story? Staff members wonder if BGE2 has drifted too far from its original identity to win over old fans or new players. Shifting to a solo action style gives developers a simpler goal, but changing core mechanics this late creates big risks for the team [2].
Today, 250 developers in southern France keep working toward their alpha goal, hoping to turn a long delay into a finished game. Ubisoft has not announced a release date or confirmed final platforms for BGE2 [1]. Whether this new solo direction saves the game will depend on what happens at the next gate review [2].
- ONLINE NEWS Purchese, R. (2026, October 21). Somehow, Beyond Good & Evil 2 reportedly still in development 18 years after being announced, and Ubisoft is making it a “solo-first” adventure. Eurogamer.net. [Article Link]
- ONLINE NEWS De Meo, F. (2026, October 21). Ubisoft’s Beyond Good & Evil 2 Shifts Again To A Solo Adventure With Spider-Man Combat, Yet Still Lacks Clear Identity. Wccftech. [Article Link]
