Beyond Good & Evil 2 has been in development for what seems to be forever and in a new interview ex-Ubisoft employee Michel Ancel has shed some light on some of the issues which have plagued the game since its conception. It seems that the various directors continuously disagreed on where to take the series and what they wanted to accomplish with the game was different. Ancel even says that Ubisoft boss, Yves Guillemot, had to go down to Montpellier at one point to get things back on track and that failed.
“On some projects, we set ourselves huge challenges and take on teams with passion, but without knowing how long and complex the road ahead will be,” Ancel explained. “Passion is a fabulous energy, but it can also lead to clashes between enthusiasts. On Beyond Good & Evil 2, for example, there were too many problems between managers.
“The art director wanted to redo everything over and over again, the game director wanted to make a generated dungeon game and I was dreaming of a space adventure. We simply couldn’t agree, and the game director took the project in other directions.
“In this type of situation, the teams are thrown around and don’t even know who’s in charge and who’s making the decisions. The producer is supposed to bring order to the situation, but that didn’t happen. Yves Guillemot even had to go down to Montpellier to get things back on track, but that wasn’t enough, and the game director continued in his stubbornness.”
“When I read in [French newspaper] Libé that I was the one running the game and asking for changes, I thought I was going to choke,” he recalled. “Beyond Good & Evil 2 is the one game where I don’t think I’ve ever questioned a decision. I’d be delighted to discuss this with any detractors.
“At the end of the day, it’s all a case of passionate managers not getting along. I believe that some time ago, these people were dismissed and the project found a certain balance with new managers.
“These management problems are of course very damaging for the teams. All this goes to show that it’s not an easy job – lots of egos and lots at stake, with clearly room for improvement in terms of human management.”
He added: “There wasn’t just one big villain, but a whole series of key issues that remained unresolved at management level, including myself. I have my share of responsibility and I should have defended the project better, been more present and more conciliatory with the staff.”
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