Rayman Creator Michel Ancel Retires, But Beyond Good & Evil 2 Will Go On

Michel Ancel, the influential creator behind Rayman and Beyond Good & Evil, says he's retiring from the games industry. He made the announcement with an Instagram video featuring a sneaky fox.

The video was Ancel's way of saying that he's going to be focusing on a different passion: wildlife. He says his new work will take place in an open wildlife sanctuary and will focus on educating nature-lovers.

His departure doesn't spell doom for his current video game projects, though. He says that the development of both Wild and Beyond Good & Evil 2 have transitioned to moving on autonomously without him and the projects are going well. "Beautiful things to be seen soon," he said.

Ubisoft put out an official statement shortly after Ancel's announcement. It doesn't appear it caught the company off-guard.

"The teams at Ubisoft Montpellier are currently focusing on the main stages of production, aligned with the vision set out by Michel. They will have more to share with their community of fans in the months to come," Ubisoft said. "We would like to thank Michel for the incredible creative vision he has brought to Ubisoft over the course of his career, and wish him all the best for this new venture."

Ancel may be known best as the creator of Rayman, which got a revival with the well-regarded Rayman Origins and Rayman Legends.

What was set to be his next project, Wild, appears closely tied with his interest in nature. The adventure game has you surviving in a harsh environment with the help of creatures like bears and eagles. It has been in development for quite some time, though, having first debuted in 2014. Meanwhile, Beyond Good & Evil 2 has been receiving semi-regular development updates, but no release target has been set.