Rayman Origins sales will help Beyond Good & Evil 2

By Tom Phillips Published 11 November, 2011

Success will Pey'j wages at Ancel studio.

The success of cel-shaded adventure Rayman Origins could help the long-awaited Beyond Good & Evil sequel see light of day.

Ubisoft designer Michel Ancel, creator of both franchises, will get "more leeway" should Origins perform well at retail, the company's sales exec Tony Key told Industry Gamers.

"Ultimately, Rayman is [Ancel's] original creation, and if all the people that love Beyond Good & Evil understand he is more than a one trick pony... and that if Rayman: Origins does well, it gives him more leeway for other opportunities because he has to build up his studio," Key said.

Like Rayman, Beyond Good & Evil has a "whimsical style", Key said, while including gameplay that appeals to both children and adults.

Meanwhile, the downloadable version of Beyond Good & Evil released this year for PSN and XBLA is "doing very well", Key added. "There are a lot of people coming back, and if they choose to do a sequel the audience is bigger than before."

Originally planned as a trilogy, Beyond Good & Evil 2 has repeatedly been promised, although Ancel stated in June that the project might be too ambitious for the current generation of consoles.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Phillips

Tom joined Eurogamer in 2010 and has quickly made his mark writing news and columns and coming up with puntastic straplines. Questionable beard. @TomPhillips151 on Twitter.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Phillips archive page.

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Comments (29) Latest comment 6 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • menage #1 7 months ago

    I really liked the Rayman demo, but screw you Ubi, wasn't BG&E HD already said to have influence over the making of part 2? Sounds a lot like "blackmail" yet again.
    Edited by menage at 11/11/11 @ 09:39

  • TheTingler #2 7 months ago

    "... and that's the reason we're releasing it after Modern Warfare 3, Saints Row The Third, Battlefield 3, Batman Arkham City, Skyrim, and even our own Assassin's Creed Revelations. We really don't want Beyond Good & Evil 2!"

  • jaguarwong #3 7 months ago

    They keep dangling that same carrot... but it's gone stale - it's clear to everyone that BG&E2 is not going to happen.

  • toa_boa #4 7 months ago

    Nice pitch, and sweet way to tap into the fan bases loyalties§

  • Eraser #5 7 months ago

    Screw you Ubisoft

  • alimokrane #6 7 months ago

    Eff off Ubisoft, I am buying Rayman because it's a good game but using these kind of tactics puts me off entirely!

  • ollyn #7 7 months ago

    That's a shame I love beyond good and evil and really want to see a sequel. I also quite like the look of this Rayman game however I just have no more money to spend on games, Resistance 3, Deus Ex, Batman, Skyrim, Uncharted etc.... I reckon I am not the only one who will pass on Rayman just because there are so many other games out there. I'll try to remember to pick it up early next year.

  • Saxo #8 7 months ago

    Meh, proberly gonna buy Rayman because it looks really cool, if it then will help pave the way for BG&E 2 then great if not then oh well. glad to hear that BG&E HD is doing good.

  • neilka #9 7 months ago

    /preorders x 500,000

  • Spong #10 7 months ago

    As much as I'd suck off a donkey if it meant BG&E2 would be made, I draw the line at being blackmailed into buying some shit Rayman game. Fuck off Ubi, instead of wasting money making shit like Rayman, why don't you just make BG&E2 and save us all a lot of hassle?

  • chrisjm #11 7 months ago

    I'd rather it funded more original Rayman

  • lolercopter #12 7 months ago

    Oh, Ubi. Didn't you say the same about the re-release of the original BGE? I quite enjoyed the demo for Rayman Origins but, unfortunately, I have this feeling it will bomb at retail. I'll get it on the cheap in a month or two, hoping that counts to your tally. It seems there's not enough money from selling Assassin's Creed every damn year, though.
    Edited by lolercopter at 11/11/11 @ 10:33

  • Cjail #13 7 months ago

    Ubisoft is more willing to make an Assassin's Creed every year than BG&E 2 after 8 years.
    I don't expect them to really support Ancel because if it was in their intention they would have done it already.
    Probably the only thing that is keeping BG&E alive is the fact that is considered one of the best games ever made so "killing it" would only hurt Ubisoft reputation as a publisher and they don't want this to happen.
    Rest assured they are not keeping the project alive because they believe in it: delaying a title for years without explanation is not a way to support it.
    Edited by Cjail at 11/11/11 @ 10:55

  • Arwin #14 7 months ago

    Just came from playing the demo of Origins with my son, and I'll buy that anyway, no additional incentive necessary. That's not to say there should be a BG&E anyway, as any game that has these kind of wonderful bright colors should be encouraged to appear on other platforms than the Wii, which is rather oversaturated and could do with some of the opposite. ;)

  • Osahi #15 7 months ago

    I'm not buying Origins because of BG&E2 (allthough I want that game hard), I'm buying it because it's one of the best platformers I played in recent years. It would be a shame if people buy a great game to get another one, in stead of buying it because it's one of the best games of the moment.

  • Hindle #16 7 months ago

    Post deleted at 23:04:43 04-04-2012

  • Mister-Wario #17 7 months ago

    I was going to get Rayman Origins anyway, so glad to hear this is increasing the chances of BG+E2.

    Well, in some small way, anyway. I do sympathise with everyone else's comments regarding the game's likely success, and I think they're most probably right. I mean, I love games like this, but I also have no plans to pick up Skyrim, Zelda or Call of Duty in the foreseeable future, so perhaps I'm not the best example of a typical gamer.
    Edited by Mister-Wario at 11/11/11 @ 12:04

  • Osahi #18 7 months ago

    @Cjail For Rayman Origins Ancel got kinda of a carte blanche (as it was first a smaller download title) and then, when the first reactions where wonderous, more budget and some creative freedom. If that's not supporting Ancel, I don't know what's not. Offcourse Ubi wants to sell a AC every year and seven Just Dances every month, but as a company it shows with Origins they support creativity too. And if that 'risk' pays off it's clear Ancel will get more freeway as the exec sais.

  • Beano #19 7 months ago

    Sound like black mail.

    I love the fantastic Rayman Origins demo and have preordered it, but these Ubisoft execs should be hunted down like animals and drowned in a pool of beaver wommit.

  • Mr.Spo #20 7 months ago

    I see what they did there...

  • ubergine #21 7 months ago

    It's been mentioned from post one onwards, but once again, nice emotional blackmail there.

  • evild_edd #22 7 months ago

    @Osahi: "It would be a shame if people buy a great game to get another one, in stead of buying it because it's one of the best games of the moment."

    Whilst I sort of get your point, the other part of me thinks 'well, at least they'll be buying it at all....'

    I can't imagine many people will buy RO just for BG&E2, and wouldn't trust ubisoft based on what they promised should there be decent sales of BG&E HD. I still think RO will do well enough - if it can get the exposure at a busy time of year.

    Biggest problem is RRP: £40 seems a lot on 360/PS3, especially when the Wii version is retailing for £25.

    Yet to try the demo, but if I like that then I'll be keeping an eye out for this in the NY sales...

  • cloudskipa #23 7 months ago

    You don't have to bribe us.. Thankfully the game is brilliant without holding gamers to ransom.

  • AdamAsunder #24 7 months ago

    So what platform is this wonderous Origins demo on then? I don't remember seeing it on Xbox marketplace.

  • SuperSoupy #25 7 months ago

    Sooo what about that BG&E2 trailer from a year or so back? The one that suggested it's happily in development?

    Was that just a big tease or what!? You can't tell people a game is being made when it clearly isn't, lying to build up false hype. And when that fails turn ugly and virtually blackmail your faithful audience.

    When Rayman fails to meet expectations (as sad as it is since it's a cool-looking game) I can see Mr. Ancel trying to flog HD re-releases of past Rayman 3D games, selling the same BG&E2 lie there as well.

    Something tells me Mr. Ancel is over-rated.

  • robbiejc85 #26 7 months ago

    Chaps, Ladies - anyone seen any Wii-footage of Rayman Origins? I don't know why but I just can't bring myself to spend £40 on an HD 2D platofmer. I love them but I've always tended to associate my 2D gaming urge on Wii (NSMB, DKCR, LostWinds, BitTrip etc) and it might well be a bit cheaper.

    Here's hoping the Wii version keeps the character and smooth controls (*vainly crosses most of the toes he can*)

  • Kaminari #27 7 months ago

    "Sales will help Beyond Good & Evil 2."

    I've heard that bullshit before.

  • gjgjg #28 7 months ago

    Sounds like they should try to get support from a publisher who will support them cos they see the potential of bge2.
    Pretty low tactic Ubi.

  • a.monteiro #29 6 months ago

    Sorry for the off-topic but the game isn't cel-Shaded mr Tom Phillips, it's good old hand-drawn 2D. Cel-Shading is a rendering technique for 3d graphics to simulate the look of cartoons, by flattening color shades and tracing a line around the polygons.

    Back to the news, Ubisoft is being such a lame company recently, first their stupid piracy comments and now this sales bullying. I guess when you get as big as an EA or Activision is inevitable, money is poison i tell ya.