Beyond Good & Evil 2 has been in the oven for 18 years, and it somehow keeps dodging the axe. Now Ubisoft creative director Fawzi Mesmar says his team is still “committed and focused” – and promises players an “extraordinary game.”

The Beyond Good & Evil 2 saga is one of the weirdest, most fascinating cases the games industry has produced. The sequel was revealed back in 2008, and simply having its existence reaffirmed thrilled plenty of fans who’d been waiting to see what came after Jade’s first adventure. But years of silence have also fueled a constant fear that the project could be pulled without warning. Many players even assumed it would be swept up in Ubisoft’s latest round of budget cuts, until the publisher insisted the game was still alive and listed as an internal priority. Now someone inside the company is going further, claiming players will eventually get to play what’s being described as an “extraordinary game.”

Here’s the short version of why that anxiety spiked. Ubisoft has been in the spotlight for a “total reboot” plan that led to six cancellations – including the long-awaited Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time remake – and the delay of seven other titles. Worse, the company also signaled that the cost-cutting phase isn’t finished, which outside corporate speak usually translates to more layoffs across its various teams. And with Beyond Good & Evil 2 stretching into an 18-year development marathon, plenty of people figured the cancellation wave would finally catch up with it. The production team, however, says it remains “committed and focused” on finishing this project.

More specifically, Ubisoft creative director Fawzi Mesmar addressed the situation after the French publisher’s latest shake-ups. In a LinkedIn post, he wrote: “my team, myself, and our Beyond Good & Evil 2 project have not been affected by the recent changes.” That line hits harder given that Ubisoft recently reaffirmed the game is still in development.

The standout part of Mesmar’s message, though, is just how confident it sounds about the end result. “Needless to say, I’m saddened by the cancellations that have affected my colleagues elsewhere at Ubisoft and in the industry,” he continued. He then added: “We remain committed and focused on delivering an extraordinary game for our players to enjoy.” It’s the kind of promise that will excite longtime fans, but it’s also guaranteed to draw skepticism from others after years of near-total silence.

Beyond Good & Evil 2 And Its Roller-Coaster Development

In truth, doubts about Beyond Good & Evil 2’s future have been circulating for a very long time. As mentioned earlier, the project was first announced in 2008 as a sequel meant to carry forward the original game’s legacy and the initial team’s ambition, particularly under then-development director Michel Ancel. Early details suggested Jade and Zerdy would travel through an explorable open world, pitched as a near “perfect” experience. But the years that followed brought few meaningful updates, and worries about cancellation grew – an outcome Ubisoft repeatedly denied.

The project got a major jolt at E3 2017, when Beyond Good & Evil 2 finally resurfaced with its first real trailer. Even though nine years had passed since the initial reveal, that trailer wiped away a lot of cancellation fears and reignited interest overnight. Ubisoft didn’t stop there, showing a playable demo that reinforced the sense the game was meant to reach the public, not be shelved indefinitely.

Then it went quiet again, and only returned to public conversation when Ancel announced his retirement after spending 30 years at Ubisoft. Since then, the French publisher has repeatedly rolled out cutbacks and suffered steep drops in market value – a pattern that, for several years now, has become the company’s baseline as of 2026.

Put simply, we’ve heard almost nothing substantial about Beyond Good & Evil 2 since the E3 2017 showing that got fans so hyped. And while Ubisoft has said after its latest budget cuts that Jade and Zerdy’s game remains a priority internally, it’s hard to take that on faith at this point. Time will tell whether Beyond Good & Evil 2 finally breaks free from development limbo and arrives as a finished product, but this industry has already taught us that projects like this rarely have an easy road to the finish line.

Source: 3djuegos