Skip to main content

Rayman creator Michel Ancel retires from video games

Video game legend Michel Ancel, who created the Raymanfranchise and Beyond Good and Evil, announced that he is retiring from the video game industry. The designer says that he’s moving on to work on a wildlife sanctuary.

Ancel was working on Beyond Good and Evil 2 and a new game called Wild. In an Instagram post announcing his retirement, Ancel says that both projects will continue without him.

Recommended Videos

“Many of you might want to know what will happen to Wild and BGE2. No worries, since [for] many months now, the teams are autonomous and the projects are going super well. Beautiful things to be seen soon.”

Please enable Javascript to view this content

Ubisoft published a blog post clarifying the situation, confirming that Ancel hasn’t been directly involved with Beyond Good and Evil 2 for “some time now.”

The studio says it is ramping up its staff for the sequel, recently pulling in Ubisoft Paris for help. Ubisoft says it plans to show the sequel in action next year.

Giovanni Colantonio
As Digital Trends' Senior Gaming Editor, Giovanni Colantonio oversees all things video games at Digital Trends. As a veteran…
Here are our favorite video games of 2020, from Animal Crossing to Hades
Animal Crossing New Horizons Beach

The Digital Trends team named The Last of Us Part II our game of the year for 2020. In our post detailing why, we noted that it was a contentious debate. That's because 2020 was filled with gaming highlights, big and small. Major studios rolled out a slate of high-budget games that sent the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One off with a bang, while welcoming their new iterations in style. Nintendo had a slow year, but delivered the only exclusive that mattered in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. Despite COVID-19 related delays, which seemed to jumble up plans left and right, there were no shortage of big-budget hits.

Other success stories came out of left field. Among Us returned from obscurity to become a multiplayer sensation two years later. Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout spun the battle royale genre on its head and had brands clamoring for a piece of its pie. Blaseball, a minimalist baseball simulator, took the internet by storm and gained attention from unlikely places like The Paris Review and NPR. It felt like there was a wild story like this every month as gamers looked for creative ways to connect with one another in an all-digital era. We've put together a list of some of our favorite games of this year that paints a well-rounded picture of the video game climate in 2020.
Best Adventure Game: The Last of Us Part II

Read more
Ubisoft’s Michel Ancel accused of abusive workplace behavior following departure
Beyond Good & Evil 2

Staff who worked under Michel Ancel allege that he had an abusive management style while working on Beyond Good & Evil 2, according to a new report from French newspaper Libération. The news comes one week after Ancel announced his retirement from the video game industry.

Sources describe the Beyond Good and Evil 2 director's management habits as erratic, saying he would frequently throw work out and disparage employees. They noted that Ancel's time was split between Beyond Good & Evil 2 and Wild, a project from his own studio, Wild Sheep, which they claim led to a disorganized development process on the Ubisoft title over the years.

Read more
Infinity Nikki’s first major update is just around the corner
Infinity Nikki promotional art.

If you haven't tried Infinity Nikki yet, the game is a whirlwind of dresses, quests, fish to catch, bugs to net, and so much more. It's already been downloaded more than 20 million times since release, and it's popularity will only grown when the Shooting Star Season update lands on December 30. For anyone that wants a cozy, lighthearted experience to shoo away the winter chill, this laid-back game is an easy choice.

The update will add new outfits for you to burn Whimstars on, limited-time events like the Wish Festival, and even more of Miraland's unique characters and story to explore. One outfit even gives Nikki a blue-green hairstyle reminiscent of Hatsune Miku.

Read more