Some games are cursed. Beyond Good and Evil 2 is one of them. Fresh job listings from Ubisoft Montpellier prove the space pirate prequel that was first announced when Barack Obama was campaigning for his first term is somehow still in active development. The Reddit gaming community greeted this news with the appropriate mixture of disbelief, cynicism, and gallows humor. After 17 years without a playable build shown to the public, Beyond Good and Evil 2 has become gaming’s most legendary vaporware project, surpassing even Duke Nukem Forever’s infamous development hell.
The Job Listings That Prove It’s Not Dead Yet
Ubisoft Montpellier quietly posted three job openings that confirm Beyond Good and Evil 2 hasn’t been quietly cancelled despite years of radio silence. The positions include a technical sound designer, lead quest designer, and technical lead network programmer. What makes these listings significant isn’t just their existence but what they reveal about the game’s current development phase and what features have survived however many internal reboots have happened behind closed doors.
The technical sound designer role is particularly telling because audio designers typically join projects during actual production rather than prototyping stages. This suggests the team has moved past pure technology demonstration and is building real content that needs proper audio implementation. The lead quest designer position confirms the game still features designed mission content rather than being purely procedurally generated, addressing one of the biggest concerns fans had about the original vision.
What We Know About the Current Version
Buried in the job listings is the clearest official description of Beyond Good and Evil 2 we’ve gotten in years. According to Ubisoft’s posting, the game is described as an open-world action-adventure game set in a space opera universe and serves as a direct prequel to the 2003 cult classic. The game aims to deliver a seamless experience of exploration and space piracy across a solar system filled with exotic locations, colorful characters, and mysteries to uncover, playable solo or with friends.
The game is still being built using the proprietary Voyager engine that was first revealed at E3 2017. This engine allows players to seamlessly move from dense open-world cities into space without loading screens, combining designed elements with procedural generation to create entire planets. The technical ambition alone explains part of why development has taken so long, though it certainly doesn’t account for all 17 years.
The Multiplayer Component Survives
The technical lead network programmer position confirms the game maintains its always-online multiplayer focus where players can drop in and out of co-op sessions. When Beyond Good and Evil 2 was re-revealed in 2017, Ubisoft described it as a shared universe where certain events would affect all players simultaneously. Despite any potential soft reboots that may have occurred behind the scenes, this core design philosophy apparently remains intact, suggesting whoever is steering the ship hasn’t completely abandoned the original vision.
It’s Been Longer Than Duke Nukem Forever
Beyond Good and Evil 2 officially surpassed Duke Nukem Forever’s development time back in 2022, and it’s only gotten worse since then. Duke Nukem Forever went 5,156 days from its 1997 announcement to its 2011 release. The first Beyond Good and Evil 2 trailer dropped on May 30, 2008, making it over 6,390 days as of November 2025. The game had already been in development for about a year before that announcement, meaning the actual timeline is even longer.
What makes this comparison particularly brutal is that Duke Nukem Forever is remembered as one of gaming’s biggest disasters, a cautionary tale about development hell that produces mediocre results. The fact that Beyond Good and Evil 2 has now spent significantly longer in development without producing anything playable for the public doesn’t inspire confidence that the final product, assuming it ever materializes, will justify the wait.
Reddit’s Reaction Was Perfectly Cynical
The r/Games discussion thread delivered exactly the kind of jaded commentary you’d expect from gamers who’ve been hearing about this project for nearly two decades. One top comment noted that the world ending has a higher probability than this game releasing, with another user responding that the conclusion of the world is at least guaranteed. The gallows humor captures the community sentiment perfectly – nobody actually believes this game is coming out.
Multiple commenters pointed out that if Ubisoft had just made a straightforward single-player game building on the original, it would have been finished years ago. The decision to create an always-online multiplayer space opera with a custom engine and procedural planet generation represents the kind of scope creep that kills projects. One user theorized the game was either paused or completely shelved until fairly recently, noting that the silence for the past year or two was unusual even by Beyond Good and Evil 2 standards.
The Vivendi Conspiracy Theory
One particularly spicy theory that gained traction in the Reddit thread suggests Beyond Good and Evil 2 was never meant to actually ship. According to this hypothesis, Ubisoft announced an excessively ambitious and expensive-looking project specifically to make the company appear less attractive to Vivendi, which was attempting a hostile takeover around that time. The strategy allegedly worked, as Vivendi divested all its Ubisoft shares back to the company just a few months after the Beyond Good and Evil 2 re-reveal.
While this theory sounds conspiratorial, the timeline does raise eyebrows. Vivendi began acquiring Ubisoft shares in 2015 and by 2016 owned over 25 percent of the company. The Beyond Good and Evil 2 re-reveal happened at E3 2017 with an incredibly ambitious tech demo showing seamless planetary exploration. By March 2018, Vivendi had sold all its Ubisoft shares. Whether the game announcement was genuinely part of an anti-takeover strategy or just coincidental timing, it’s undeniable that Ubisoft has kept the project nominally alive despite never showing meaningful progress.
Leadership Tragedy and Creative Changes
The project has weathered significant personnel changes that would normally kill a game. Michel Ancel, the original creator and visionary behind the series, 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 be the final blow that forced cancellation.
Instead, Ubisoft appointed Fawzi Mesmar as the new 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 noted that “it’s all about execution.” This suggests there’s a concrete vision under the new leadership, though whether that vision can actually be realized remains the billion-dollar question that’s haunted this project for nearly two decades.
Why Hasn’t Ubisoft Cancelled It?
The persistence of Beyond Good and Evil 2 despite every logical reason to cancel it raises genuine questions about Ubisoft’s decision-making. The company is currently struggling financially 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.
One Reddit user suggested Ubisoft operates with around 18 distinct internal teams that can be deployed to support major titles approaching launch. Beyond Good and Evil 2 has likely never received that level of support because it’s never gotten close enough to release to justify the investment. Instead, it appears stuck in an eternal prototyping phase with a skeleton crew keeping it nominally alive while never progressing to actual full-scale production.
The Sunk Cost Fallacy in Action
Another explanation is pure sunk cost fallacy. Ubisoft has invested so much money, time, and reputation into this project that admitting defeat would be humiliating. Yves Guillemot has repeatedly promised fans the game is still coming, going so far as to release a Beyond Good and Evil 1 remaster in 2024 to convince people the company remains committed to the IP. Cancelling now would validate every critic who said the project was doomed from the start.
What This Means for Fans
For the few remaining optimists who still believe Beyond Good and Evil 2 might someday release, these job listings offer a glimmer of hope that development continues. The fact that Ubisoft is hiring for production-level positions suggests movement beyond pure concept work. However, hiring a technical sound designer and quest designer in late 2025 means the game is still years away from release even in the most optimistic scenario.
Most fans stopped taking the project seriously years ago. PC Gamer summed up the sentiment perfectly, noting that the writer first got excited about Beyond Good and Evil 2 at age 14 and is now 32. An entire generation of gamers has grown up, finished school, started careers, and potentially had children in the time this game has been “in development.” At this point, Beyond Good and Evil 2 serves more as a bizarre games industry curiosity than an actual anticipated release.
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 despite 17 years since the original announcement.
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 14-year development record in 2022 and now holds the distinction of being the longest-running development project in gaming history.
Why is Beyond Good and Evil 2 taking so long?
Multiple factors contribute to the extended timeline, including building a 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 creating seamless multiplayer space exploration, and potential internal reboots and scope changes.
Will Beyond Good and Evil 2 ever actually release?
The gaming community is deeply skeptical that Beyond Good and Evil 2 will ever launch. Despite Ubisoft’s continued insistence that development progresses, the project has shown no playable builds publicly since tech demos in 2017, and hiring for production roles in 2025 suggests it’s still years away from potential release.
What kind of game is Beyond Good and Evil 2?
According to current job listings, Beyond Good and Evil 2 is an open-world action-adventure game set in a space opera universe and serves 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.
Did Ubisoft announce BGE2 to prevent a Vivendi takeover?
Some Reddit users theorize the ambitious 2017 re-reveal was strategic positioning to make Ubisoft less attractive during Vivendi’s hostile takeover attempt. While unconfirmed, the timing is suspicious – Vivendi sold all its Ubisoft shares months after the BGE2 announcement. The game’s continued existence despite lack of progress supports this theory.
Who is the current creative director of Beyond Good and Evil 2?
Fawzi Mesmar became creative director in October 2024 after the tragic death of previous director Emile Morel 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.
When will we see gameplay of Beyond Good and Evil 2?
There’s no indication when Ubisoft will show the game publicly. The last gameplay demonstrations were tech demos in 2017. Given that production roles are still being filled in late 2025, don’t expect any reveals at The Game Awards or other near-term events.
Conclusion
Beyond Good and Evil 2 has transcended being merely a video game to become a philosophical thought experiment about persistence, sunk costs, and the nature of hope itself. The project has survived leadership changes, company financial crises, industry trends that have come and gone, and the complete transformation of gaming technology since its original 2008 announcement. Job listings confirming continued development in 2025 don’t inspire confidence so much as deepen the mystery of why Ubisoft refuses to let this cursed project die with dignity. For the handful of fans still holding out hope, these hiring posts represent another faint heartbeat from a patient that’s been in a coma for 17 years. 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.