Beyond Good and Evil 2 is still in pre-production, 18 years after Ubisoft first announced it in 2008. That is the central claim of a report from the French publication Origami Media, which Video Games Chronicle (VGC) covered on Oct. 22, 2026 and TheGamer picked up a day earlier. The report says at least 250 people work on the game at Ubisoft Montpellier, and that the team’s next target is the alpha phase.
The story lands while big studios are already shaking. Our earlier coverage of EA shutting BioWare and cutting 400 jobs showed how fast a long-running franchise can lose its home. VGC reports that staff on this project worry about a similar fate, although nothing in the reporting points to a cancellation today.
Ubisoft has not confirmed any of the report’s claims. The company said in June 2024 that the game was still in development, and none of the cited coverage includes a release date, a price, a platform list, or a launch window. This analysis separates what the reporting establishes from what stays unconfirmed, because the gap between the two is where most of the confusion sits.
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What the Origami Media Report Actually Claims
Origami Media built its report on anonymous sources close to the project, according to VGC and TheGamer. Both outlets describe a game that has absorbed years of work yet has not crossed the line into full production. The core claims, as relayed by the outlets that read the original, are short.
- Beyond Good and Evil 2 remains in pre-production, so full production has not started.
- At least 250 people are involved at Ubisoft Montpellier.
- The next target is the alpha phase.
- The game is now a solo-first adventure with a strong story, co-op support, and no mandatory online connection.
- The vision has shifted several times, from online multiplayer to four-player teams and then two-player teams.
The wording of the current direction matters, so here it is verbatim. Origami Media wrote that “The aim now is to offer a ‘solo-first’ adventure, with no mandatory online connection and featuring a strong narrative that can also be played in co-op.” That sentence is the publication’s own summary, not a statement from a named Ubisoft representative.
Origami Media is not a random leaker. VGC points out that the outlet previously leaked, correctly, that the Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown team had been disbanded. A good track record raises the odds that the new claims are accurate. It does not turn anonymous sourcing into an official announcement.
Beyond Good and Evil 2 Pre-Production, Explained in Plain Terms
Pre-production is the phase where a studio decides what the game is. Teams test mechanics, prototype tools, settle on a structure, and write the pitch that production will follow. Production is the phase where hundreds of people build the actual content at scale. Alpha usually comes later, when the game is playable end to end in rough form.
So when reports say Beyond Good and Evil 2 is in pre-production, they do not say nobody is working on it. They say the foundational questions are still open. TheGamer put the gap bluntly: after 18 years the game has not even left that first stage, and the report’s account of the reasons points to a vision that kept moving.
The practical consequence is that the alpha target, as the reports describe it, is a gate and not a finish line. Reaching alpha would suggest the framework is stable enough to start building substantial playable content. It would still leave beta, polish, certification, and marketing between today and a shelf date. No outlet cited in this research offers a timeline for any of those steps.
Readers should also keep the phrase in context. Long pre-production is common across the industry, and 18 years since the 2008 announcement does not equal 18 years of continuous work on one design. Reports say the project has gone through several reboots of intent. Calendar time and effective development time are different numbers, and the reporting does not split them.
Ubisoft Montpellier and the 250-Person Team
The headcount is the most concrete figure in the story. According to Origami Media’s report as relayed by VGC and TheGamer, at least 250 people are involved at Ubisoft Montpellier alone. VGC adds that the sources describe several hundred people on the game overall, mainly at that studio. We use the conservative figure here, because the sheet of confirmed facts only supports at least 250.
That is a large team to hold in pre-production. For scale, our report on Star Wars: Galactic Racer and its 75-person co-development model describes a project staffed at under a third of that number. Payroll for 250 people over multiple years is a heavy line item, and it explains why executives at any publisher would ask hard questions about a project with no public finish date.
Staffing alone does not prove progress. A big team in pre-production can mean the studio is prototyping aggressively, or it can mean people are waiting on direction. The reporting leans toward the second reading for earlier years, because the vision changed so often. The recent pivot to a solo-first design is presented as the step that finally gives the team a stable target.
Ubisoft Montpellier is the studio named in the reporting. VGC also notes that Michel Ancel, the game’s creator, left Ubisoft in 2020, saying he would leave the video game industry to focus on a career in wildlife. Whatever the studio builds now, it builds without that original creative lead.
From Online Multiplayer to Solo-First: The Reported Pivot
The most interesting part of the Origami Media report is the design history. Per VGC, the report says that between 2019 and 2022 the game was meant to be a multiplayer experience spanning multiple planets, with players matched together. The goal was a social space where friends could gather after work, in the manner of Destiny or Fortnite.
Four-Player and Two-Player Stages
After the online-first idea, the report says the vision changed several times. First came a team-based game supporting four players, then a smaller version for two. Each step shrank the multiplayer ambition. Each step also forced the team to rethink systems, tools, and content scope, which is exactly the kind of churn that keeps a project stuck in pre-production.
These stage-by-stage claims come from anonymous-source reporting. Ubisoft has made no official announcement that confirms them. Treat the sequence as credible but unverified.
| Reported design stage | What it reportedly looked like | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Online multiplayer | Multi-planet game with matched players, built as a social hub (reported as 2019 to 2022 by VGC) | Anonymous sources |
| Four-player teams | Team-based game supporting four players | Anonymous sources |
| Two-player teams | Smaller team-based version for two players | Anonymous sources |
| Solo-first adventure | Strong narrative, playable alone, co-op supported | Origami Media report |
| Online requirement | No mandatory online connection | Origami Media report |
| Next milestone | Alpha phase | Origami Media report |
What Solo-First With Co-Op Means
Solo-first means the whole campaign has to work for one person with no partner and no server. Co-op then becomes an added mode instead of the foundation. That is a very different engineering problem from a persistent online world. It removes server costs, matchmaking, and live-service pressure, and it puts weight on writing, pacing, and exploration.
VGC also relays a claim about tone. Sources told Origami Media the game was once thought of as Zelda in space and now sits closer to Insomniac’s Spider-Man games. That is the report’s characterization, not an official design statement.
Confirmed Versus Unconfirmed: Sorting the Claims
With a story this long-running, rumor and fact blur fast. The table below sorts each claim by what the cited reporting actually supports. Anything marked unconfirmed rests on Origami Media’s anonymous sources or has no source at all.
| Claim | Status | Attributed to |
|---|---|---|
| Product is styled Beyond Good and Evil 2 by Ubisoft | Confirmed | Ubisoft, per multiple outlets |
| Game first announced in 2008 (about 18 years ago) | Confirmed | VGC, TheGamer |
| Ubisoft said in June 2024 the game was still in development | Confirmed | Ubisoft statement |
| Game remains in pre-production | Reported | Origami Media |
| At least 250 people involved at Ubisoft Montpellier | Reported | Origami Media |
| Next target is the alpha phase | Reported | Origami Media |
| Vision shifted from online to four-player to two-player teams | Unconfirmed | Anonymous sources |
| Release date, price, platforms, launch window | Unconfirmed | None in cited reporting |
The pattern is consistent. Facts that come from Ubisoft are thin and old. Facts that come from Origami Media are detailed and recent, yet they all trace to anonymous people. A reader who wants certainty has to wait for Ubisoft to speak on the record.
An 18-Year Timeline: 2008 to October 2026
The history explains why this report landed so hard. Ubisoft announced the game in 2008. It then went largely quiet for almost a decade, according to research compiled from published coverage. At E3 2017, the company revealed it again with a major trailer and confirmed that the 2008 footage showed a version of the project that no longer existed.
In 2018 Ubisoft released more material, including a gameplay trailer and a demonstration of roughly 14 minutes. It also launched the Space Monkey Program that year, promising behind-the-scenes updates for players. Early Space Monkey material showed a very ambitious design, with an India-inspired opening city, a galaxy of planets, and travel between them. Updates became much less frequent in 2019.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 2008 | Ubisoft first announces Beyond Good and Evil 2 |
| 2017 | Re-reveal at E3 with a major trailer, 2008 version declared obsolete |
| 2018 | Gameplay trailer, roughly 14-minute demo, and Space Monkey Program launch |
| 2019 | Space Monkey updates become much less frequent |
| 2020 | Creator Michel Ancel leaves Ubisoft, per VGC |
| June 2024 | Ubisoft says the game is still in development |
| Oct. 21 to 22, 2026 | TheGamer and VGC report Origami Media’s pre-production claim |
Read in sequence, the timeline shows a project that revealed ambition early and shipped nothing. Each public beat was followed by a long silence. The October 2026 report is the first detailed look inside that silence in years.
Why the Vision Keeps Changing
This section is analysis, not reporting. A game that promised a connected galaxy of planets and shared-player hubs carries one of the hardest scopes in the industry. Each added system multiplies the cost of every other system. When leadership then changes the multiplayer model, the team does not tweak a feature. It reopens the foundation.
Industry economics make the problem worse. Our look at GTA VI’s $1.5B budget and the limits of AAA gaming shows how far top-end budgets have climbed. A publisher that funds an open-ended pre-production for years is betting that the final design will justify costs on that scale. Each pivot raises the bar the finished game must clear.
Market fashion plays a role too. The reported 2019 to 2022 online-hub concept matched a period when publishers chased live-service revenue. As that appetite cooled, the reported pivots moved toward smaller multiplayer and then toward solo play. The design followed the market, and the market kept moving. A game with no ship date has no way to catch up.
The upside of the current direction is clarity. A narrative-led single-player game with optional co-op is a format the industry understands, and its costs are easier to forecast. If the report is right, the team finally has a target that does not depend on a live online economy.
Ubisoft’s Restructuring and the Cancellation Question
VGC reports that sources believe the game has seemed impervious to cancellation over the years. Those same sources suggest that may finally change given Ubisoft’s restructuring plans and the layoffs that followed. VGC adds that nothing yet indicates cancellation is on the table.
VGC also notes that earlier this year Ubisoft announced a major reorganization that split its development teams into autonomous creative houses, and that one of those houses was confirmed to include Beyond Good and Evil 2. That placement matters. It means the game has an organizational home and a leadership group with a stake in its fate, which is more than many shelved projects get.
The wider industry offers little comfort. Our piece on the six franchises left in limbo after BioWare’s closure shows how a single corporate decision can freeze projects that fans assumed were safe. Studio closures and layoff rounds have been a recurring theme in our coverage this year.
A fair reading is that cancellation risk is real but unproven. The report describes worried staff, not a decision. Ubisoft’s own words from June 2024 say development continues. Until the company says otherwise, the correct label is troubled and active.
How Outlets Covered the Story
Coverage fanned out quickly from the original French report. VGC ran the story on Oct. 22 under a headline that stressed the 18 years and the shifting vision. TheGamer published on Oct. 21 and focused on the pre-production status and the single-player shift. Search results for the story also surface Eurogamer, Wccftech, GamingBolt, and the Spanish site Hobby Consolas.
The framing differs by outlet. VGC leads with troubled development and cancellation anxiety. TheGamer leads with how the game survived Ubisoft’s cuts and what the solo-first shift might unlock. Hobby Consolas, per its headline, stresses the single-player commitment and the 250-developer team. All of them rely on the same Origami Media source, so agreement across outlets is not independent confirmation.
That point is easy to miss. When five sites repeat one report, the story looks confirmed. In reality it has one origin. The accurate summary is that a respected French outlet with a prior accurate leak has published detailed claims, and others have relayed them.
Market Impact: What This Means for Ubisoft and Players
No financial data accompanies the report, so any impact estimate is qualitative. We cite no revenue, budget, or share-price figure for this game because none appears in the sources. What the story does show is how a single legacy title can shape sentiment about a publisher’s execution.
For Ubisoft, the report is a reputational cost. An 18-year gap between announcement and alpha is a headline that critics will reuse each time the company talks about its pipeline. Investors and fans tend to read such stories as proof of weak project control, even when the cause is a deliberate redesign.
For players, the near-term effect is expectation reset. Anyone waiting for a launch window should treat the game as a distant release with no date. The offline-friendly design may please players tired of always-online requirements, a theme we track across our gaming coverage.
For competitors, the lesson is about scope discipline. Studios watching this story learn what happens when a design promise outruns its technology and its business model at the same time.
How Beyond Good and Evil 2 Compares With Other Big Bets
Comparison helps here, with one caveat. We have no verified development budget or timeline for Beyond Good and Evil 2, so this is a comparison of strategy, not of numbers. The contrast is with projects that fixed their scope early and then shipped on a stated date.
Phantom Blade Zero is a recent example of a focused, single-player action game that now has a firm date. Our report on Phantom Blade Zero launching Oct. 28 with DLSS 4.5 covers its technical package. It is a different genre and a different publisher, yet it shows how a tight, narrative-driven scope reaches the market.
At the other end sits the largest release of the season. Rockstar’s GTA VI is the high-budget, high-certainty case, with a launch window the whole industry now plans around. Beyond Good and Evil 2 occupies the opposite corner: high ambition, high headcount, no public date. Both are huge. Only one has told players when to show up.
The strategic takeaway is plain. Scope fixed early beats scope refined late. The solo-first pivot, if the report is correct, is Ubisoft Montpellier moving toward the first model after years in the second.
Five Predictions for Beyond Good and Evil 2
These are our own forecasts based on the reporting. Nobody quoted in this article made them, and none is guaranteed.
- No release date within the next 12 months. A game still aiming for alpha is far from a dated launch, and the reporting offers no sign otherwise.
- Ubisoft stays quiet or issues a brief non-denial. The company’s last on-the-record line is from June 2024, and a short development-continues statement is the likeliest response.
- Solo-first with optional co-op holds. After several pivots, another full reversal toward mandatory online play looks unlikely.
- More French and trade-press leaks follow. Origami Media has detailed sources, and other outlets will chase the same people.
- Cancellation stays a tail risk, not the base case. The game survived earlier cuts and has a named home in the new structure, though a large team in pre-production remains exposed.
What Players Should Watch For Next
Three signals will tell readers whether the report holds up. First, any official Ubisoft comment, even a short one, that addresses pre-production or the alpha target. Second, a job listing or studio post from Ubisoft Montpellier that hints at production-stage hiring. Third, a change in how Ubisoft describes the game’s multiplayer features in public materials.
Absence of news is also information. If alpha is truly the next gate, the studio has months of internal work before there is anything to show. Players hoping for a trailer should keep expectations low.
Finally, remember the source structure. One French report started this wave, and anonymous sourcing sits under every key claim. Treat every detail in this story as reported until Ubisoft confirms it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Beyond Good and Evil 2 still in pre-production?
According to a report from Origami Media, covered by VGC and TheGamer, yes. Ubisoft has not confirmed the claim. The company said in June 2024 only that the game was still in development.
How many people work on the game?
The report says at least 250 people are involved at Ubisoft Montpellier. VGC adds that sources describe several hundred people overall, mainly at that studio.
What is the game’s current direction?
Reports describe a solo-first adventure with a strong narrative, co-op support, and no mandatory online connection. Earlier versions reportedly leaned on online multiplayer, then four-player teams, then two-player teams.
Does the game have a release date?
No. The cited reporting contains no release date, price, platform list, or launch window.
When was Beyond Good and Evil 2 first announced?
Ubisoft announced it in 2008, which makes about 18 years as of October 2026. The company re-revealed the project at E3 2017.
Is the game going to be canceled?
VGC reports that staff worry Ubisoft may pull the plug one day, but it also says there are no signs of cancellation yet. The game was confirmed as part of one of Ubisoft’s new creative houses.
What is the next milestone?
The report says the team is aiming for the alpha phase. That would mark a step beyond pre-production, though it is still far from a finished game.
