Michel Ancel has announced he has left the video game industry to focus full-time on a wildlife sanctuary.
Ancel’s prolific 30-year career saw him create franchises at Ubisoft such as Rayman, Rabbids and Beyond Good & Evil.
Announcing his departure via Instagram, Ancel confirmed that his two ongoing projects – Beyond Good & Evil 2 and Wild – would continue without him.
“Today is very special for me,” Ancel wrote. “After more than 30 years, I’ve decided to stop working on video games and fully focus on my second passion: Wild Life!
“My new project takes place in the real world and consists in a wild life open sanctuary dedicated to education, nature lovers and… wild animals.
“Many of you might want to know what will happen to Wild and BGE2. No worries, since many months now the teams are autonomous and the projects are going super well. Beautiful things to be seen soon.
“May the fox be with you.
“🦊.”
Ancel is best known for his work on the Rayman series, which he created at Ubisoft back in 1995. The platforming franchise spawned numerous sequels over the years, while its limbless hero became something of a Ubisoft mascot.
In 2003, Ancel and his Ubisoft Montpellier team took on their most ambitious project yet in Beyond Good & Evil, a sci-fi adventure which found a loyal cult following. Plans for a full sequel have been in and out of development ever since.
Ancel also created Rabbids, a Rayman spin-off which quickly grew into a standalone franchise with a life of its own. There are now more Rabbids games than Rayman ones, a TV series and plans for an upcoming movie.
Throughout his career, Ancel was regarded as a popular and charismatic studio head and creator. I’ll always remember interviewing Ancel at his studio’s wrap party for Rayman Legends – only for him to excuse himself halfway through as his colleagues were calling for him to go jam with the event’s band instead. And fair enough.
A Ubisoft veteran, Ancel was given unusual freedoms. Beyond Good & Evil 2 was a passion project for him and his studio – and one which seems no closer to release now then when it was most recently re-announced at E3 2017.