First announced back in 2008 by Michel Ancel, the acclaimed game designer behind the originalBeyond Good & Eviland the creator of theRaymanfranchise, Ubisoft’sBeyond Good & Evil 2has now become the most-delayed AAA game in history. That dubious distinction had previously belonged tofirst-person shooterDuke Nukem Forever, which was finally released in 2011 after being announced all the way back in 1997.The originalBeyond Good & Evilwas a third-person action-adventure game released in 2003 starring investigative reporter Jade as she worked with a resistance movement to uncover an evil alien plot. Working alongside AI-controlled companions, gamers led Jade through a mix of puzzle solving and combat on a quest to get photographic evidence to reveal the aliens’ plans. The game was praised by fans and critics but had limited commercial success, and in recent years has come to be regarded as a hidden gem in a year that also saw the release ofheavyweight titles likeStar Wars: Knights of the Old RepublicandWarcraft 3: The Frozen Throne.RELATED:Ubisoft Lists Beyond Good and Evil 2 as ‘In Active Development’In a post on his personal Twitter account, GamesIndustry.biz managing editor Brendan Sinclair noted that it has now been longer since the firstBeyond Good & Evil 2trailer was released than the 5,156 days that passed between the announcement and release ofDuke Nukem Forever, making it the most delayed AAA title in history. Responses to the tweet ranged from people mentioning how they had been excited for the game as teenagers but were now solidly into adulthood, to expressing surprise that the game hadn’t already been canceled. In fact, some developers who previously worked on the title have stated thatthey believeBeyond Good & Evil 2will eventually be canceled.
Beyond Good & Evil 2has faced a troubled development cycle ever since it was first announced, with gamers sometimes waiting years between the release of new snippets of information from the development team. The game’s first trailer featured the return of series protagonist Jade and her pig-like companion Pey’j and managed to create excitement among fans of the first game. But when a new trailer released years later revealed a game featuring a planet-hopping, open world setting, some fans began to worry that the developers were chasing the latest gaming trends rather than creating a proper sequel to the beloved title.
Beyond Good & Evil 2is just the latest title to face a delayed development process with no clear end in sight. Even with the announcement ofa new lead writer who had previously worked on Volition’sSaints Rowreboot, gamers still have no idea what to expect fromBeyond Good & Evil 2if and when it releases. It may be easy to write offBeyond Good & Evil2 after witnessing the critical and commercial failure of the similarly-delayedDuke Nukem Forever, but some fans of the original game are still holding out hope that it will get the sequel it so richly deserves.
Beyond Good and Evil 2is reportedly in development.
