Ubisoft just posted job listings that confirm Beyond Good and Evil 2 is still in development after 17 years. The positions for technical sound designer, lead quest designer, and technical lead network programmer appeared on various job sites this week, providing the latest proof that gaming’s most legendary vaporware project refuses to die. The Reddit gaming community greeted this news with the appropriate mixture of exhausted cynicism and gallows humor. After nearly two decades without meaningful progress shown to the public, these job openings raise more questions than they answer – particularly why Ubisoft is still hiring for production roles on a game first announced when the iPhone didn’t exist.
- The Job Listings That Won’t Die
- What We Actually Know About the Current Version
- The Reddit Reaction Was Perfectly Jaded
- Why Hasn’t Ubisoft Just Cancelled It
- The Leadership Tragedy and Changes
- What Changed and What Stayed the Same
- The Comparison to Duke Nukem Forever
- Why Production Roles Matter
- Community Expectations Are Dead
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Conclusion
The Job Listings That Won’t Die
Ubisoft Montpellier posted several positions specifically for Beyond Good and Evil 2 this week, with the technical sound designer role being the most recent addition. The job requires someone to provide technical solutions for integrating and implementing audio systems, ensuring audio assets work as intended according to the Audio Director’s vision. What makes this notable is that audio designers typically join projects during actual production rather than conceptual phases, suggesting the game has moved past pure prototyping.
The lead quest designer position confirms the game still features designed mission content rather than being purely procedurally generated. The technical lead network programmer role indicates the always-online multiplayer component survives despite any soft reboots that may have happened behind closed doors. Together, these openings paint a picture of a game that remains ambitious in scope and complexity, which partly explains why it’s taken so impossibly long to materialize.
What We Actually Know About the Current Version
The job listings include updated descriptions of Beyond Good and Evil 2 that provide the clearest picture in years of what Ubisoft claims to be building. According to the postings, the game is an action-adventure open world game set in a space opera universe and serves as a direct prequel to the 2003 cult classic. It uses the proprietary Voyager engine to deliver seamless exploration and space piracy across a solar system full of exotic locations, colorful characters, and mysteries, playable solo or with friends.
The Voyager engine allows players to move from dense open-world cities into space without loading screens, combining designed elements with procedural generation to create entire planets. This technical ambition alone explains part of the extended development timeline, though it certainly doesn’t account for all 17 years. The engine’s preliminary work was only completed right before E3 2017, which original creative director Michel Ancel described as day zero of actual game development.
The Reddit Reaction Was Perfectly Jaded
The r/Games discussion thread delivered exactly the kind of weary commentary you’d expect from gamers who’ve been hearing about this project since before smartphones existed. One commenter from PC Gamer noted they first got excited for Beyond Good and Evil 2 at age 14 and are now 32. Another user joked that Sisyphus will finally get his rock to the top of the mountain right around the time this game ships, perfectly capturing the community’s exhausted attitude toward yet another sign of life from gaming’s most cursed project.
Multiple commenters questioned why anyone would want to work on a project that’s been in development hell for nearly two decades. The assumption that these are replacement positions rather than expansion of the team dominated discussion, with users speculating about how many developers have cycled through Beyond Good and Evil 2 over its impossibly long lifespan. The gallows humor reflects a community that stopped taking the project seriously years ago.
Why Hasn’t Ubisoft Just Cancelled It
The persistence of Beyond Good and Evil 2 despite every rational reason to cancel it raises genuine questions about Ubisoft’s decision-making process. The company faces financial struggles with delayed releases, tumbling stock prices, and potential acquisition discussions. In this environment, a project that’s consumed massive resources for 17 years without producing a shippable product becomes increasingly indefensible from a pure business perspective.
One theory is pure sunk cost fallacy – Ubisoft has invested so much money, time, and reputation that admitting defeat would be humiliating. CEO Yves Guillemot has repeatedly promised fans the game is still coming, even releasing a Beyond Good and Evil 20th Anniversary Edition in 2024 to demonstrate continued commitment to the IP. Cancelling now would validate every critic who said the project was doomed from the start and potentially damage Ubisoft’s credibility with both fans and investors.
The Skeleton Crew Theory
Another explanation is that Beyond Good and Evil 2 operates with a minimal skeleton crew that keeps it nominally alive without ever progressing to full production. Reddit users suggested Ubisoft likely has around 18 distinct internal teams that can be deployed to support major titles approaching launch. Beyond Good and Evil 2 has probably never received that level of support because it’s never gotten close enough to release to justify the investment, stuck in eternal prototyping limbo.
The Leadership Tragedy and Changes
The project weathered significant leadership changes that would normally kill any game. Michel Ancel, the original creator and visionary, left Ubisoft in 2020 amid allegations of toxic management practices. The team continued under creative director Emile Morel, who tragically died suddenly in 2023 at just 40 years old. Many assumed this would finally force cancellation, ending the project with dignity rather than letting it stumble forward leaderless.
Instead, Ubisoft appointed Fawzi Mesmar as creative director in October 2024. Mesmar brings credentials from over 20 titles including Star Wars Outlaws. According to industry insider Tom Henderson, what Mesmar and the team have accomplished looks pretty cool and it’s all about execution. This suggests there’s a concrete vision under new leadership, though whether that vision can be realized after 17 years of development hell remains the billion-dollar question.
What Changed and What Stayed the Same
The job descriptions confirm that despite any potential soft reboots behind the scenes, Beyond Good and Evil 2 remains a prequel to the original 2003 game rather than being completely reconceptualized. The multiplayer component survives with drop-in/drop-out co-op functionality, suggesting Ubisoft hasn’t abandoned its shared universe ambitions even though always-online games have fallen somewhat out of favor in recent years.
The Voyager engine remains the technical foundation despite being revealed eight years ago at E3 2017. This creates questions about whether the engine has kept pace with modern technology or if the game will feel dated by the time it eventually launches. Building proprietary engines for single projects represents massive risk – if the game never ships, all that engine development becomes wasted investment with no way to recoup costs through licensing to other developers.
The Comparison to Duke Nukem Forever
Beyond Good and Evil 2 officially surpassed Duke Nukem Forever’s development time back in 2022 and has only gotten worse since. Duke Nukem Forever went 5,156 days from its 1997 announcement to its 2011 release. The first Beyond Good and Evil 2 trailer dropped May 30, 2008, making it over 6,390 days as of November 2025. The game had been in development for about a year before that announcement, meaning the actual timeline extends even further.
What makes this comparison brutal is that Duke Nukem Forever is remembered as one of gaming’s biggest disasters – a cautionary tale about development hell producing mediocre results. The fact that Beyond Good and Evil 2 has spent significantly longer in development without showing anything playable to the public doesn’t inspire confidence that the final product, assuming it materializes, will justify the wait or avoid similar disappointment.
Why Production Roles Matter
The specific positions Ubisoft is hiring for tell us something important about development status. Quest designers and sound designers join projects during production when content is being built, not during pre-production or conceptual phases. This suggests Beyond Good and Evil 2 has moved beyond pure technology demonstration and is creating actual playable missions and environments that need proper audio implementation and designed content.
However, hiring these roles in late 2025 means the game remains years away from release even in optimistic scenarios. Quest design, audio implementation, and network programming represent middle-to-late stage development work, but there’s still testing, polishing, marketing preparation, and platform certification ahead. A 2027-2028 release window seems optimistic given how much work remains and Ubisoft’s tendency to delay troubled projects repeatedly.
Community Expectations Are Dead
Perhaps the saddest aspect of these job listings is how little excitement they generated. The gaming community has been conditioned to view Beyond Good and Evil 2 as a punchline rather than an anticipated release. Reddit users joked about seeing the same story again when they’re 49 years old, suggesting they don’t believe the game will ever materialize no matter how many job listings appear.
This cynicism is entirely justified given the project’s history. Ubisoft has been promising updates and progress for 17 years without delivering anything playable to the public beyond tech demos from 2017. At some point, words become meaningless and only a playable product can restore credibility. These job listings represent yet another sign of life from a patient that’s been in a coma since 2008 – technically not dead, but showing no signs of actually waking up either.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Beyond Good and Evil 2 still being made?
Yes, according to job listings posted by Ubisoft Montpellier in November 2025. The studio is hiring for technical sound designer, lead quest designer, and network programmer positions specifically for Beyond Good and Evil 2, confirming active development continues.
How long has Beyond Good and Evil 2 been in development?
Beyond Good and Evil 2 was first announced in 2008, making it over 17 years old as a project. It surpassed Duke Nukem Forever’s development record in 2022 and now holds the dubious distinction of being gaming’s longest-running development project.
When will Beyond Good and Evil 2 release?
There’s no official release date or window. The fact that Ubisoft is hiring for production-level positions in late 2025 suggests the game is still years away from launch, assuming development continues without major setbacks or cancellation.
Why is Beyond Good and Evil 2 taking so long?
Multiple factors contribute: building the proprietary Voyager engine from scratch, leadership changes after Michel Ancel left in 2020, the death of creative director Emile Morel in 2023, the technical ambition of seamless multiplayer space exploration, and likely multiple internal reboots and scope changes.
What kind of game is Beyond Good and Evil 2?
According to job listings, it’s an open-world action-adventure game set in a space opera universe, serving as a prequel to the 2003 original. It features seamless exploration and space piracy across a solar system using the Voyager engine, playable solo or in online co-op.
Who is the current creative director?
Fawzi Mesmar became creative director in October 2024 after Emile Morel’s death in 2023. Mesmar is a veteran designer who worked on over 20 titles including Star Wars Outlaws and reportedly has the game looking pretty cool according to industry insiders.
Will Beyond Good and Evil 2 ever actually release?
The gaming community is deeply skeptical. Despite Ubisoft’s continued insistence that development progresses, the project has shown no playable builds publicly since 2017 tech demos. Hiring production roles in 2025 suggests years remain before potential release, if it happens at all.
Why hasn’t Ubisoft cancelled Beyond Good and Evil 2?
Possible reasons include sunk cost fallacy after 17 years of investment, Yves Guillemot’s personal commitment to the project, fear of credibility damage from admitting failure, and the game operating with a skeleton crew that doesn’t justify full cancellation despite never reaching full production.
Conclusion
Beyond Good and Evil 2’s latest job listings represent another faint heartbeat from gaming’s most legendary vaporware project. After 17 years, these hiring posts don’t inspire hope so much as deepen the mystery of why Ubisoft refuses to let this cursed project die with dignity. The positions confirm that multiplayer survives, the Voyager engine remains the foundation, and the game is still positioned as a prequel despite any soft reboots that may have occurred. But hiring quest designers and audio implementers in late 2025 means we’re still years away from potential release, assuming the project doesn’t face additional leadership changes, technical setbacks, or eventual cancellation. For the handful of fans still holding out hope, these job postings represent another thread to cling to. For everyone else, Beyond Good and Evil 2 serves as gaming’s most enduring reminder that sometimes the kindest thing you can do is pull the plug. Whether this game ever releases, releases and disappoints like Duke Nukem Forever, or simply continues existing in development purgatory until the heat death of the universe remains anyone’s guess. At this point, betting on the heat death might actually be the safer wager.