It was a big surprise when Michel Ancel, creator of "Rayman" and "Beyond Good & Evil," suddenly announced that he was leaving Ubisoft after 30 years of service to work at an animal shelter. Ancel was the creative director of "Beyond Good & Evil 2" and seemed passionate about the sequel, which took nearly eight years to complete. Today, however, the French news media outlet Libération published two reports that several employees said Ancel created a toxic work environment and mismanaged the project. In response to the reports, Ubisoft and Ancel confirmed that he was under investigation before resigning, but Ancel has since denied the allegations on Instagram.

Libération's initial report and follow-up interview with Ancel are both in French, but a ResetEra user translated both articles. The first report describes a development nightmare perpetuated by Ancel, who allegedly forced his development team to abandon months of work on a whim. According to Ubisoft employees, Ansel frequently changed his creative vision for "BG&E2," even talking to the press and inventing new features that were not communicated to the development team in advance. Burnout and depression were common, and Ansel was reportedly so temperamental that Ubisoft had to pull him away from the development staff in several layers of middle management.

"He can explain that you are a genius and that your ideas are great, but in meetings he demolishes you, saying that you suck, that your work is worthless, and won't talk to you for a month," one employee told Libération (ResetEra's translated by Orbulon)."

"He is a man with a creative process based on the erosion of his vision and the erosion of those around him.

When Ubisoft announced his departure on September 18, it did not disclose that Ancel was under investigation. The details only became public in August, when Ansell gave an interview to Libération and was told by Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot that he was being personally investigated.

In that interview, Ansell avoided direct questions about his management and conduct. Of BG&E's troubled development, he said, "A lot of people weren't prepared for it." 'There are moments of skepticism, of saying that my direction is not understood or explained well enough, which is possible.' [But after that interview was published, Ansell posted on Instagram denying the accusations. 'These accusations are shameful and I will fight for the truth,' Ansell wrote. 'I worked hard on every project and always had respect for my team. The accusations are wrong."

Ansell's post directly addresses several important issues raised in Liberation's initial coverage. He claims that as the director of BG&E2, it is not his responsibility to manage the development team, but to "bring vision" while "the producers and managers decide what, when, and how to do it." This is especially true in a city that was the focus of BG&E2's first release." Ansell writes, "The news from Liberation contains false [information] revealed by me and a few others who want to destroy the project.

In a statement obtained by Kotaku, Ubisoft confirmed that it was investigating Ancel, but did not say whether that investigation was related to the same actions Libération detailed. A spokesperson for Ubisoft told Kotaku, "Yves Guillemot promised in July that any allegations would be investigated and that he would not be removed from the process, and this includes Michel Ancel. As Michel confirmed to a journalist at Libération, he is under investigation." The investigation is still ongoing, and out of respect for the confidentiality of this investigation, we will not communicate further."

According to Libération, Ansel left Ubisoft of his own volition.

According to Libération, Ancel left Ubisoft of his own volition.