Back in June, Ubisoft promised us for the 29th time—yes, we counted—that Beyond Good and Evil 2, which has somehow been in development since 2008, is still happening. Today, we bump that number up by one, making it a nice, round 30, because the game now has a new creative director, Fawzi Mesmar, who Ubisoft says has more than 20 successful game launches to his credit.
Mesmar's LinkedIn page indicates he took over as creative director on Beyond Good and Evil 2 sometime this month, which Ubisoft confirmed in a statement to Kotaku.
"With more than 20 years as an award-winning game designer and creative director, he’s been instrumental in the successful launch of over 20 video games," a rep told the site. "Mesmar previously collaborated with the Beyond Good & Evil 2 team as VP of Editorial. In his new role, he’s focused on continuing to build upon the vision set forth by our late friend and colleague, Emile Morel."
Morel took over as creative director on Beyond Good and Evil 2 in 2023, after working on games including The Adventures of Tintin and Rayman Legends. Sadly, he died shortly thereafter at the age of 40. A Kotaku report from February said Morel had been promoted to creative director on the project in the wake of an investigation of high levels of burnout and sick leave at developer Ubisoft Montpellier.
It's hard to believe that Beyond Good and Evil 2 will ever actually be finished, and part of me hopes it isn't: If there's one thing I learned from Duke Nukem Forever, it's that ironic anticipation is sometimes the most fun you can reasonably expect to have with a game project that's clearly out of control. But the Kotaku report says two sources indicated the game recently made a good impression while passing an internal milestone, and no, that's not much, but at least it's a sign the game is still—well, maybe not kicking, but at least twitching occasionally.
The tough part for Ubisoft is that it needs Beyond Good and Evil 2 to be more than just finished. It needs to be good: Something people can point to say and say that no, this did not need to take nearly so long (because let's be honest, that ship sailed years ago), but what ultimately resulted is a game of quality, reflecting expertise, dedication, and a genuine commitment to getting it right. Because anything less than that, bluntly, is just another Skull and Bones, which given Ubisoft's current struggles is the last thing it needs.
Of course, even if Beyond Good and Evil 2 does manage to meet that high bar, it may not make a difference. The time frame is obviously an issue: Any game that's going to help turn around Ubisoft's fortunes needs to happen now, not in three or four years. But the hard fact is that being a good game just isn't good enough anymore. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown did very well for itself critically but that didn't translate into big sales, and the development team has since been disbanded. What Ubisoft really needs is a hit, and those have proven decidedly elusive in recent years.
