Little by little, the layers have been peeling back on the development for Beyond Good & Evil 2, the long-awaited sequel to Ubisoft's 2003 cult classic game. Now we have more information courtesy of Beyond Good & Evil creator Michel Ansel, who posted a picture of the 2008 incarnations of certain BG&E characters – such as the lead heroine Jade and her half-pig uncle Pey'j – alongside insights into the sequel's delays.
According to Ancel, there were playable versions of Beyond Good & Evil 2 around 2008 but his team were caught off-guard by "technical issues". Ancel then states that the team sought to include "planet exploration, space travel, cities", all elements he says were meant to be in the original Beyond Good & Evil.
This apparently lead Ancel and his team to shift focus, as he says:
"Instead of not doing the game of our dreams, we decided to return to 2D, have fun with Rayman and go back at work for Beyond Good and Evil 2.
We still have loooooots of work but now the tech is ready and the team is fantastic!"
Many have found Ancel's final statement to indicate that the more modern technology available to him will allow for the inclusion of the aforementioned space travel, exploration and other game mechanics intended for the first BG&E.
Beyond Good & Evil 2 has been in an unknown state of development since 2008. It has only been officially confirmed to be in pre-production as of October 6th, 2016.