Beyond Good & Evil 2 is officially the gaming industry’s most stubborn project. Despite being announced in 2008, re-revealed in 2017, and stuck in development hell longer than Duke Nukem Forever, Ubisoft’s space opera prequel is somehow still alive in January 2026. According to recent reports from industry insider Tom Henderson, the project is now “shaping up very well,” marking one of the first genuinely positive updates in years. Job postings from November 2025 confirm Ubisoft Montpellier continues hiring for the game, including positions for multiplayer network programmers.
The news comes as a shock to anyone who assumed the project would quietly vanish amid Ubisoft’s recent restructuring and layoffs. But Against all odds, Beyond Good & Evil 2 has survived cancellations that claimed dozens of other Ubisoft projects between 2024 and 2025. The real question now isn’t if the game exists, but whether it can actually escape development hell and reach players’ hands.
Tom Henderson Says Development Is Finally on Track
Industry leaker Tom Henderson, known for accurate reporting on major franchises, dropped a rare positive note about Beyond Good & Evil 2 in early January 2026. According to Henderson, the troubled project has moved past its earlier difficulties and is now “shaping up very well.” This marks a dramatic shift from previous reports describing the game as stuck in pre-production despite over a decade of work.
Henderson’s earlier reporting from January 2025 suggested Beyond Good & Evil 2 was still “further out” than most other Ubisoft projects, implying a release date no earlier than 2027. His latest update doesn’t confirm a launch window, but the improved development status suggests Ubisoft leadership may have finally given the project clear direction after years of internal uncertainty. For context, a 2024 Kotaku investigation revealed the game had been failing annual executive evaluations since at least 2017, never securing approval for full production with expanded team sizes.
Ubisoft Is Still Hiring for Multiplayer Features
Job listings posted in late November 2025 provide concrete evidence that development continues. Ubisoft Montpellier advertised multiple positions including lead quest designer, technical sound designer, and notably, a technical lead network programmer. The network programming role confirms Beyond Good & Evil 2 still plans to include multiplayer functionality, despite years of silence about the game’s final scope.
The job descriptions describe Beyond Good & Evil 2 as “an open-world action-adventure game set in a captivating space opera universe” and “the direct prequel to the 2003 cult classic.” The listings emphasize the proprietary Voyager engine, which Ubisoft has been building specifically for this project since around 2017. According to the descriptions, the game aims to offer “seamless experience of space exploration and piracy on the scale of a solar system” that can be played solo or with friends.
The Long Road Through Development Hell
To understand how remarkable it is that Beyond Good & Evil 2 still exists, you need to appreciate its catastrophic development history. Creator Michel Ancel first teased the sequel in 2008. After years of silence, Ubisoft re-revealed the game with a stunning cinematic trailer at E3 2017, followed by gameplay footage in 2018. Then communication essentially stopped for four years.
Behind the scenes, the situation was dire. A 2024 report from French YouTuber Gautoz revealed that approximately 70% of developers working on the game were struggling under uncertainty about its future. One team member was reportedly leaving the project every ten days throughout 2022 and into early 2023. About 70% of the original team that developed the Voyager engine in 2017 had departed by 2024, either moving to other Ubisoft projects or leaving the company entirely.
The game never received full production approval from Ubisoft executives despite annual evaluations. Reports suggested leadership viewed the project as too ambitious and unfocused, particularly under Michel Ancel’s direction before he left Ubisoft in 2020. The studio managing director also departed following a government investigation into workplace conditions at Ubisoft Montpellier. By all conventional wisdom, Beyond Good & Evil 2 should have been cancelled years ago.
Why Hasn’t Ubisoft Cancelled It Yet
The fact that Beyond Good & Evil 2 survived when so many other Ubisoft projects got axed between 2024 and 2025 raises an obvious question: why? According to sources who spoke to Kotaku, cancelling the game would create massive problems for Ubisoft. The company has invested enormous resources into the project, including building an entire proprietary game engine. Shutting it down would mean reallocating a large team to other projects during a period when Ubisoft itself faces uncertain financial performance.
There’s also the public relations nightmare. Beyond Good & Evil has a devoted cult following despite the original game selling modestly in 2003. Ubisoft has publicly promised the sequel is still happening at least 29 separate times between 2008 and 2024, including confirmations tied to the Beyond Good & Evil 20th Anniversary Edition remaster released in June 2024. That remaster even included new story content explicitly connecting to the prequel, effectively doubling down on the commitment to deliver Beyond Good & Evil 2.
What the Game Actually Is Now
Based on the most recent job listings and past reveals, Beyond Good & Evil 2 remains a space opera prequel exploring Jade’s origins before the events of the 2003 original. Players will explore an entire solar system filled with exotic locations, playing as customizable space pirates rather than a single protagonist. The game supports both solo play and cooperative multiplayer, with shared world events affecting all players simultaneously.
The 2018 gameplay demo showed seamless transitions from planetary surfaces to space combat with no loading screens, powered by the custom Voyager engine. Players could recruit crew members, customize ships, and engage in large-scale battles. However, it’s unclear how much of that vision survived the years of troubled development. Multiple sources suggest the current version has been scaled down significantly from Michel Ancel’s original ambitious concept, which one developer described as looking “like a fever dream of stupid 12 years old kid.”
Community Reactions and Expectations
The gaming community remains deeply skeptical despite positive reports. On Reddit’s r/GamingLeaksAndRumours, users debated whether Beyond Good & Evil 2 will follow the Dead Island 2 path, where a game stuck in development hell for years finally released to decent reviews, or the Duke Nukem Forever route, arriving far too late as a mediocre disappointment. The consensus seems to be cautious hope that even if the game releases, it will likely be a solid but unremarkable 7 out of 10 experience.
Some fans theorize Ubisoft has essentially rebooted development under new leadership with a more focused and scaled-down vision. The inclusion of story teases in the 2024 remaster suggests the company genuinely intends to deliver something, even if it bears little resemblance to what was promised in 2017. Others point out that Ubisoft typically delivers functional games that range from “fine” to “good” regardless of development time, so Beyond Good & Evil 2 will probably be playable and decent if it ever arrives.
FAQs About Beyond Good & Evil 2
Is Beyond Good & Evil 2 still in development in 2026?
Yes, Beyond Good & Evil 2 is still actively in development at Ubisoft Montpellier as of January 2026. Industry insider Tom Henderson reported in early January that the project is “shaping up very well,” while job postings from November 2025 confirm Ubisoft continues hiring developers for the game.
When will Beyond Good & Evil 2 be released?
No official release date has been announced. Based on Tom Henderson’s reporting from January 2025, the game is “further out” than most Ubisoft projects scheduled for 2026, suggesting a release date no earlier than 2027. However, given the project’s troubled history, even that timeline remains speculative.
How long has Beyond Good & Evil 2 been in development?
Beyond Good & Evil 2 was first teased in 2008 and officially re-announced in 2017. The current version of the game has been in development since approximately 2017 when Ubisoft began building the proprietary Voyager engine. This makes it one of the longest-running development projects in gaming history, surpassing even Duke Nukem Forever’s infamous timeline.
Why hasn’t Ubisoft cancelled Beyond Good & Evil 2?
According to reports, cancelling Beyond Good & Evil 2 would create significant problems for Ubisoft, including wasted investment in the custom Voyager engine and needing to reallocate a large team during uncertain times for the company. Additionally, Ubisoft has publicly promised the sequel at least 29 times since 2008, making cancellation a public relations disaster.
Will Beyond Good & Evil 2 have multiplayer?
Yes, job listings from November 2025 specifically advertise for a technical lead network programmer, confirming multiplayer functionality remains part of the game. The listings describe Beyond Good & Evil 2 as playable solo or with friends, featuring shared world events that affect all players simultaneously.
What happened to Michel Ancel and Beyond Good & Evil 2?
Michel Ancel, creator of the original Beyond Good & Evil, left Ubisoft in 2020. Reports suggest his vision for Beyond Good & Evil 2 was considered too ambitious and unfocused by Ubisoft leadership. The game has continued development under new direction, likely with a more scaled-down and focused approach than Ancel’s original concept.
Is Beyond Good & Evil 2 still a prequel?
Yes, all recent job listings and official descriptions continue to describe Beyond Good & Evil 2 as “the direct prequel to the 2003 cult classic.” The 2024 remaster of the original game included new story content that specifically connects to the prequel, confirming this direction remains unchanged despite years of development challenges.
Conclusion
Beyond Good & Evil 2 stands as gaming’s most improbable survivor. After 18 years of development, multiple leadership changes, a custom game engine build, mass team departures, and enough broken promises to fill a small library, the project somehow still exists in January 2026. Tom Henderson’s report that development is “shaping up very well” offers the first genuinely positive signal in years, suggesting Ubisoft may have finally found a workable path forward. Whether that path leads to an actual release remains the multi-billion dollar question. The game has survived this long through sheer institutional momentum and sunk cost fallacy, but if Henderson’s sources are accurate, Beyond Good & Evil 2 might actually escape development hell. Just don’t expect it anytime soon, and definitely don’t expect the impossibly ambitious game revealed in 2017. What eventually releases will likely be something smaller, more focused, and hopefully functional enough to justify nearly two decades of waiting.