Beyond Good and Evil 2 was first announced to much fanfare back in 2016, but all the hype and excitement surrounding its reveal morphed into skepticism over time. In the years since its announcements, updates on the game have completely dried up, with many wondering whether the game’s just in development hell at that point.
Whether or not it’s in development hell is unknown, but at the very least, it seems like even after over five years in development (at least), the game still hasn’t made a lot of progress. In a recently published report, Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier wrote that Beyond Good and Evil 2 is still in the pre-production phase of development.
The exact meaning of pre-production varies from studio to studio, but generally it refers to the early phases of a game’s development that are focused more on conceptualizing and forming a basic framework for the game, ahead of proper development taking place to execute on those ideas.
Ubisoft has insisted time and again that Beyond Good and Evil 2 is progressing well in development, but at this point, it’s hard for anyone to have confidence in that- especially with reports talking about the game’s blatantly troubled development, and the fact that it’s still several years away from launch.
Of course, Beyond Good and Evil 2 is not the only major project Ubisoft has in development hell (or close to it) at this moment. The long-in-development Skull and Bones has been having prolonged and crippling issues as well- read more on that through here.
Meanwhile, in the aforementioned report, Schreier also wrote that a new smaller and stealth-focused Assassin’s Creed entry is due out either later this year or in 2023. Read more on that through here.