A new blow struck Beyond Good and Evil fans last night in the form of news about the departure of longtime Ubisoft Montpellier managing director Guillaume Carmona, according to Kotaku.
No reason has been provided for his reported departure, which would end an 18-year career with the company. But Kotaku reports that the Ubisoft studio in Montpellier, which has been working on the highly-awaited Beyond Good and Evil sequel for over a decade, is now being targeted by France’s government authority Inspection du Travail due to labor policy concerns.
Sources told Kotaku that this departure was the latest on a long list. Dozens of Ubisoft Montpellier developers have reportedly been going on extended leave due to “stress or sickness” over the last year, which was eventually noticed by the labor inspection office in December.
As a result, a thorough investigation is being conducted by a third-party organization that will provide a report on the health and well-being of the developers working on the title.
Ubisoft commented on Kotaku’s report, saying that the investigation was caused by “the length of the development cycle with Beyond Good & Evil 2” and aimed at assessing “preventative measures” to ensure the well-being of the developers.
BGE2 has broken the unfortunate record of becoming the game with the longest development time without a release date. It still doesn’t have a release window despite being in the works since 2003.
The first title of the license won several awards after its release and is even going to get its own live-action animated film, produced by Netflix and Detective Pikachu director Rob Letterman. As such, its next title has been subject to high expectations from the beginning.
Over the years, however, the project changed hands multiple times without any progress being shown to the fans. And now, it’s unclear what the game looks like after successive changes in direction. No additional game footage has been shown since 2017’s E3.
Ubisoft has recently been in hot water over controversial policy changes and cut-costing measures, as well as more game delays and cancellations since the start of the year. It looks like the company still has a lot more hardships to face in the next few months.
Meanwhile, fans can look forward to discovering the next title of the Assassin’s Creed license, Mirage, when it’s introduced later this year—though a specific release date has not been provided yet.
