Update: In what seems to be a mistake, Ubisoft announced the BG&E 20th Anniversary Edition would be hitting all platforms on June 25 (via Wario64) in a now-deleted tweet. After releasing the game accidentally, the studio appears to have gone ahead and announced it accidentally too. Never change, Ubi.
Original story: My god, I think it might be happening. Against all odds, against all precedent, against all sense, I think Ubisoft might be gearing up to release a Beyond Good and Evil game.
Not Beyond Good and Evil 2, mind you. Heavens no. We’ll only see that some time after the end of the Stelliferous Era. But it does look like Yves and co are preparing the way for a release of Beyond Good and Evil: 20th Anniversary Edition, a souped-up remaster of the original 2003 classic that looks set to coincide with its, uh, 21st anniversary.
I say this because the Beyond Good and Evil Twitter account has been teasing some kind of announcement about the remaster at the Limited Run Games Showcase (which airs today at 11 am PT / 2 pm ET / 7 pm BST), declaring that “Uncle Pey’j has a message to share with you all.” As if that’s not enough, the original BG&E has been quietly delisted on Steam. “At the request of the publisher, Beyond Good and Evil is unlisted on the Steam store and will not appear in search,” reads a notice where the purchase button once sat.
So it seems pretty likely to me that Ubisoft is setting up to announce a release date for the BG&E remaster, or perhaps even preparing to release the game outright at the Limited Run event.
If you’re wondering why Ubisoft didn’t keep this under wraps as a surprise for BG&E fans, well, it tried. It tried really hard, actually, but thoroughly blew it last November when it accidentally released the game to Ubisoft+ subscribers. It tried to yank the game back out of their hands and scrub all trace from the internet, but the damage had already been done: Screenshots and videos from it were all over social media. Eventually, Ubisoft just threw in the towel and fessed up, saying it’d have more info “in early 2024”.
In classic BG&E fashion, it looks like we’re now about to get that “more info” halfway through 2024, but hey, I’m eager to hear more anyway. The original game is one of my favourites, and I’ll gladly take a polished-up version that runs better on modern systems. Plus, I’m curious to know what work Ubisoft has done since November. Some of the videos and screens that leaked last year looked a little bit ropey, but the studio promised it was far from done. With any luck, we’ll get another look at the remaster today and it’ll all look a lot better.
My only complaint is that Ubisoft decided to delist the original. Sure, thousands of us already have it, but having those classics easily purchasable is important to preservation. I really can’t imagine the slightly janky original game would end up cannibalising too many sales of the 20th Anniversary Edition, so delisting it feels petty and short-sighted. Ah well, at least you can still get it on GOG, at least for now.