Ancel: BG&E 2 being developed with as few people as possible to maximize creativity

Good news first: Beyond Good & Evil 2 is definitely alive. If Ubisoft corporate's overly indulgent "yes" didn't convince you, perhaps a reassuring pat on the back from series creator Michel Ancel will do the trick.

Now the not-quite-so-good news: Ancel has big, big plans for the game, but he wants to carry them out with a tiny team. Translation: more waiting. A lot more waiting.

Speaking during the Montpellier in Game conference, Ancel (translation via NeoGAF) explained why Beyond Good & Evil 2's been taking its sweet time in development. Foremost, Ancel is intentionally keeping the dev team small and family-like, so as to encourage creativity.

He also said that he intends for the game to have a branching storyline with "multiple outcomings" - no small task for a small team.

On top of all that, Ancel plans on releasing the tools being used to create the game for free. However - unlike Rayman Origins, whose dev tools will also be released into the wild upon completion - Beyond Good and Evil is running on a 3D engine. This, according to Ancel, makes the process far more complex.

Really though, how many engines can boast that they have the most realistic pig man physics in the industry? If that's not worth waiting for, we don't know what is.