It would be 'good to finish' BG&E - Michel Ancel

By Tom Bramwell Published 23 August, 2005

But not right now.

Michel Ancel's been talking about his action-role-player Beyond Good & Evil again - in a little box-out next to a big long chat about King Kong in the September issue of EDGE.

"If we make a sequel to BG&E, it would have a lot of advantage because of the time we've spent on King Kong," he said.

"It's not that much of a problem to do it. It seems that a lot of people would like a sequel, and I wrote the story to be longer, so it would be good to finish it. But we have no plans for that."

That's pretty much the line we got last time Ancel mentioned the possibility of more Beyond Good & Evil. At one stage Ubisoft was linked with a whole trilogy of games, but it seems that despite mass critical-acclaim the French publisher would rather set Ancel to work on other games.

You can sort of see why. Having been lauded the world over for BG&E, his talent is bound to instil quality and hardcore credibility in just about any project - as we've seen with Peter Jackson's King Kong, which is already being heralded as one of the best-looking film licences ever.

And of course if games like King Kong help keep Ancel in the public eye, the chances of Ubisoft green-lighting something as personal as Beyond Good & Evil 2 are also given a boost.

In other words, we wouldn't write it off completely. But you might as well uncross your fingers for now; it really isn't in development.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

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

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Comments (41) Latest comment 7 years ago

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  • Diabeu #1 7 years ago

    crossed fingers

    i just loved BG&E - but it was so short

  • ishigo #2 7 years ago

    BG&E is one of the best games to grace the PS2.

    So using the law of the gaymes industry, there will never be a sequel :( :( :(

  • gerg #3 7 years ago

    BG&E has been one of the best games I've played on the GC. I would love a sequal.

  • Blerk #4 7 years ago

    But we have no plans for that.

    Bah.

    Here's a tip, Ubi. I'm not likely to buy King Kong regardless of its heritage. I would be very likely to buy another BG&E. Do the maths.

  • Thamuhacha #5 7 years ago

    Pretty much everyone on this site is the exception to this. Not just Blerk.

    /impotent rant

  • Blerk #6 7 years ago

    Yeah, so they should be trying to attract me into buying something as well! :-)

    Of course, if they announce that they're going to publish Project Zero 3 over here then all will be forgiven.

    /beams ideas into Ubi's brain

  • Mugwum Verified Operations Director, Eurogamer Network #7 7 years ago

    I think they probably have done the maths, Blerk. That's kinda the problem.

  • Blerk #8 7 years ago

    Bugger.

  • LaundroMat #9 7 years ago

    The maths (as seen during a top secret powerpoint presentation):
    Film license impulse buyers = 550.000
    Blerk = 1
    Blerk followers = 0,5 (max)
    Total: 549.998,5

    Preliminary result: release King Kong and drag Blerk in it too by making a vague promise that if KK sells well, we'll think of a BG&E sequel.

    Final result:
    550.000 KK sales
    1,5 assured sales of BG&E 2

    Executive boardroom decision:
    Do not start work on BG&E 2 yet, not enough prospective sales.

  • paralipsis #10 7 years ago

    I still can't understand what went wrong with BG&E. It had alot of marketing, and there have been very few games of the current generation anywhere near as good. I reckon Ubisoft are still scratching their heads too.

    Who knows, they may just be brave enough to try again. Although I don't hold out too much hope.

  • Blerk #11 7 years ago

    They'll probably end up doing another BG&E, but dress everyone is leather, give it a 'dark' theme and fill it full of death metal. :-)

  • LaundroMat #12 7 years ago

    Prospective sales up with 150.000 thanks to Blerk's innovative suggestion.

  • Kiigan #13 7 years ago

    Here's what was wrong with BG&E - it wasn't marketed, even a little bit. It just appeared on the shelf amidst a ton of other hot new releases close to the big winter push. The name, the box art, none of it leapt out at you from the shelf. It had almost no instore presence on day of launch, and things went downhill from there. Heavy discounting meant it just faded into the background along with Prince of Persia The Sands of Time (probably the last and only great 3D Prince of Persia) to look just like every other old, discounted title that no one was interested in. It's a damn shame. Here's a tip though Ubisoft - don't waste years and years of development time on a product you aren't willing to at least TRY selling to people.

  • paralipsis #14 7 years ago

    "Here's what was wrong with BG&E - it wasn't marketed, even a little bit. It just appeared on the shelf amidst a ton of other hot new releases close to the big winter push."

    That's not my experience Kiigan. I recall quite a bit of advertising at the time. Though I was in Australia at the time, and it might have been a local thing.

  • Teeth #15 7 years ago

    And they changed the main charater! I tells ya she was much better before!

    /whips small pile of equine skeleton dust

  • kangarootoo #16 7 years ago

    I agree with kiigan on this. I thought the marketing for BG&E was very low key compared to a lot of other titles. And the marketing that there was didn't push the aspects of the game that would have helped it stand out. I hadn't even heard of it until some workmates told me about it, and I'm pretty clued in like most on this site.

  • kangarootoo #17 7 years ago

    What was the previous character like?

  • Teeth #18 7 years ago

    Before
    After

  • Tomo #19 7 years ago

    BG&E was so boring :[

    Zelda-lite for me.

    King Kong is looking interesting tho.

  • jlaakso #20 7 years ago

    Beyond Good & Evil is a tough sell, because I still don't really know what it's all about. No, I haven't played it, though I intend to get it. It's too obscure on the surface to attract the casual gamer.

    It was marketed in an adequate *volume* to my perception, albeit not very well.

  • Teeth #21 7 years ago

    But KK is essentially linear, with some mildly interesting AI and good narration and atmosphere - nothing approaching the freedom of interaction that BG&E has from what I've seen. Not really comparable games IMO

  • Kiigan #22 7 years ago

    Oh I hadn't seen that earlier pic of Jade before. Yeah she looks better than the final one (although the final version is probably more appropriate for the gutsy brave journalist revolutionary schtick).

  • Teeth #23 7 years ago

    True, the older version looks too young. Think they should have stuck with the asian-looking theme though, also her clothes were cooler. You can't see it but her trousers looked ace. I can't believe I'm typing this.

  • Mashum #24 7 years ago

    I don't think that BG&E had that 'must buy it' quality from looking at the box and the few ads. It's difficult to put a finger on why - something to do with the protagonist and the setting just not peaking my interest, and the interest of many other gamers out there.

    I did eventually get it 2nd hand - what a bargain it was too.

  • Blerk #25 7 years ago

    What BG&E really needed to sell it to the average punter on the street was for some booze-addled hack to say something like "as good as Zelda" in their review, then get that quote blown up in a large font and attached to the front of the box as an irritating sticker. Cue thousands of PS2 and Xbox sales to get 'Zelda for their machines' and a bundle of Cube sales from people determined to say 'no it isn't'. :-)

  • captain-future #26 7 years ago

    I got the game under the impression of "Zelda for Xbox" ;) and was disappointed. I gave the game a fair 7 / 10 but I simply don't see what so many of gamers like about the game.

    For me its mediocre with unfunny gameplay and I don't like the characters nor the the story very much.

    I sure wouldn't buy the sequel.

  • read_only #27 7 years ago

    BG&E may have been hurt by the PS2 exclusive deal. If it had been released on all platforms simltaneously then it may have featured (better) in the charts and been a bit more visble. Certainly a great game that deserves a sequel.

    KK sounds interesting from the point of view of creating great atmosphere (the impression I go from EG preview).

  • rinoaMW #28 7 years ago

    i never heard of BG&E until i played a demo on an un-named ps2 magazine, but i instantly fell in love with it. Now it sits up there along side my all time favourite games (like Super metroid)..

    dont get me wrong, i like the zelda series, but zelda's come and go, where as it seems like we'll only ever see one BG&E title, and its a crying shame.

    i really hope KK helps boost the possibilty of a 2nd BG&E game, cause lets face it... any possibilty is better than none.

    heres hoping.

  • UncleLou #29 7 years ago

    "Here's what was wrong with BG&E - it wasn't marketed, even a little bit. It just appeared on the shelf amidst a ton of other hot new releases close to the big winter push."

    That's not my experience Kiigan. I recall quite a bit of advertising at the time. Though I was in Australia at the time, and it might have been a local thing.

    I have to agree with Kiigan as well - though I'd say the biggest problem wasn't the marketing, but the release date. It was bound to fail amongst all the pre-Christmas big guns.

  • RabidMonkey #30 7 years ago

    I read somewhere a while back that the character of Jade, photo journalist extrodinaire, was originally going to be a hooker!!!!!

    Would have sold better if they stuck with that idea me thinks.


  • Dynamize #31 7 years ago

    Carlsen and Peters!!!
    Agree with Kiigan as well. BG&E was lost on the run up to the Christmas deluge, at least around my way. Had I not been on the look-out for it I doubt I would've picked up on it. At least, that's one of the only reasons I can think of for it not selling.

  • urizen #32 7 years ago

    'They'll probably end up doing another BG&E, but dress everyone is leather, give it a 'dark' theme and fill it full of death metal. :-)'

    ...now there's an idea - cast Monica Belluci in the lead role. Sold! :)

  • Blerk #33 7 years ago

    I'll tell you exactly why it didn't sell:

    1. Not based on an existing franchise.
    2. Cartoon graphics.
    3. Not a FPS.
    4. Doesn't feature cars.
    5. No licensed soundtrack featuring 'banging choons'.
    6. No square-jawed hero.
    7. No over-the-top weaponry.
    8. No Mario.

    and

    9. It was actually very good.

  • Teeth #34 7 years ago

    There's a picture of the old Jade on the front page now.

  • Bitkari #35 7 years ago

    I know this isn't the place for BG&E related grumbles, BUT: why didn't the PC version support gamepads, eh?

    grrr. argh. grrr.

  • Kiigan #36 7 years ago

    It could be worse Bitkari - the PC version of Obscure didn't even support the mouse :) Really awful.

  • Kiigan #37 7 years ago

    I'd love new new BG&E, but not if it means it gets the Warrior Within treatment. Please, anything but that.

  • RabidMonkey #38 7 years ago

    Everyone would love a new BG&E but, unfortunatly, its never going to happen.

  • NAC #39 7 years ago

    If I remember correctly Ubi-soft brought out 3 leading games christmas 2003. Prince of Persia, Beyond Good and Evil and XIII. All of them didnt sell, shame really as they were all very good games.

    POP got overlooked, BG&E got overlooked more and XIII was in the bargin bin before christmas!!!

    Oh yeah wasnt Splinter Cell 1 out before christmas 2003 as well?

  • nightsparkle #40 7 years ago

    i remember that when i first heard about it, i thought it was just another game like the james bonds or something, i mean a combination of different types of gameplay, all of which aren't worked out very well. a crap action adventure with bad stealth and bad action.
    i read on the back of the box it would be about photographing. when i bought it however, it turned out it had nothing short of the best storyline ever in a game (finally a serious story) and it was worked out with surplus imagination. i realy got into the game. what struck me most was that a game with such simple action turned out to be so enthraling. casual gamers would be able to play it with as much fun as 'hardcore' action fans. i'm a big ninja gaiden fan so normally i like to be challenged by a game. beyond good and evil did challenge me because the game was made so taht you can play it without dying, so you mustn't learn tricks but do it in one time. react fast not by practise but by being trown into a situation. that's why the simple game design worked. worked very well.

  • ClansOfIntrigue #41 7 years ago

    I think BG&E was just released at the wrong time. Trying to launch a new franchise in the Christmas season when it's going up against all the well known and "must buy" sequels is not a wise plan. Should have releases it in the summer when gamers are getting itchy for something new and it won't get lost in all the EA advertising pushes.