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Gamekult Rumour: Michel Ancel may leave Ubisoft after Rayman Legends [Ubi: Nope]

Stumpokapow

listen to the mad man
This is the "best" kind of rumour. It plays into fans hopes and expectations and takes advantage of the recent situation, it hedges enough that they aren't wrong if it doesn't come true, and any responsibility that they would have to take would be 6+ months away so chances are no one will even remember to hold them to task. Great job.

I heard Nomura is quitting Square Enix to join Sony as Director of Exclusive Games PS4 Rules as soon as Versus is released.
 

Miruhoggu

Neo Member
Oh wait, the rumor is he might leave with his whole team?

Then BG&E 2 might still happen with a different publisher.

Not the whole team, only five or six people. I don't know exactly how many employees are working in Montpellier, but they have at least two different teams in different buildings : one is finishing Rayman Legends and the other did ZombiU.
 

efyu_lemonardo

May I have a cookie?
This is the "best" kind of rumour. It plays into fans hopes and expectations and takes advantage of the recent situation, it hedges enough that they aren't wrong if it doesn't come true, and any responsibility that they would have to take would be 6+ months away so chances are no one will even remember to hold them to task. Great job.

I heard Nomura is quitting Square Enix to join Sony as Director of Exclusive Games PS4 Rules as soon as Versus is released.

It's even better than that. Depending on the amount of enthusiasm this rumour generates, Ancel could even use it as a bargaining chip to improve his status in the company ;)
He may have started it himself to test this idea.
 

Hero

Member
This is the "best" kind of rumour. It plays into fans hopes and expectations and takes advantage of the recent situation, it hedges enough that they aren't wrong if it doesn't come true, and any responsibility that they would have to take would be 6+ months away so chances are no one will even remember to hold them to task. Great job.

I heard Nomura is quitting Square Enix to join Sony as Director of Exclusive Games PS4 Rules as soon as Versus is released.

Good thing Versus is never going to be released.
 
There is nothing wrong with Ancel breaking away from Ubisoft to form his own studio, then contracting his company back out to Ubisoft to work on BG&E2, this would also allow him freedom to accept funding from other sources (such as Nintendo) to expand and work on other IP's.

If we could still get BG&E2 (on all next gen platforms U/4/720) and get Ancel to work on something exclusively for Nintendo, w/ Nintendo, then everyone in this thread gets what they want.

win win for all invloved/interested parties.
 

Gleethor

Member
I don't know why some posters think that Nintendo would restrict Ancel's creative freedom, they have a history of giving freedom to people with any sort of clout like Sakurai and (unfortunately) Sakamoto. If they wanna work with the guy, they're gonna do it his way because he's a big deal.
 

PhantomR

Banned
There is nothing wrong with Ancel breaking away from Ubisoft to form his own studio, then contracting his company back out to Ubisoft to work on BG&E2, this would also allow him freedom to accept funding from other sources (such as Nintendo) to expand and work on other IP's.

If we could still get BG&E2 (on all next gen platforms U/4/720) and get Ancel to work on something exclusively for Nintendo, w/ Nintendo, then everyone in this thread gets what they want.

win win for all invloved/interested parties.

There we go, I was waiting for some more reasoned possibilities here. This would be great for Ancel, great for Ubisoft, and possibly great for Nintendo as they wouldn't risk pissing off their biggest 3rd party supporter by stealing away their top designer.

Ancel would be to Ubisoft, what Sakurai is to Nintendo. I like it.
 

Madouu

Member
This is the "best" kind of rumour. It plays into fans hopes and expectations and takes advantage of the recent situation, it hedges enough that they aren't wrong if it doesn't come true, and any responsibility that they would have to take would be 6+ months away so chances are no one will even remember to hold them to task. Great job.

Maybe. But then again, gamekult isn't a website that posts a rumour after another so I don't know where they would have got this expertise from.

It's actually pretty rare for them to write something like this. That and the fact that I find them to be pretty reliable in general makes me think whatever they say their contact has told them is probably true. We shall see, people may forget but GAF will probably remember this particular article.

Also, I haven't seen it mentioned in the thread but in the article it says "disagreements between Nintendo and Ubisoft about the distribution and promotion of Rayman Legends are the main reason behind the loss of its exclusivity for the Wii U".

Seems weird when every Wii U demo station had Rayman Legends and seeing how it was pushed by Nintendo. It could be about the deal in Japan or it could be simply wrong and entirely related to sales data.
 

AznSniper

Member
This is the "best" kind of rumour. It plays into fans hopes and expectations and takes advantage of the recent situation, it hedges enough that they aren't wrong if it doesn't come true, and any responsibility that they would have to take would be 6+ months away so chances are no one will even remember to hold them to task. Great job.

I heard Nomura is quitting Square Enix to join Sony as Director of Exclusive Games PS4 Rules as soon as Versus is released.

Where did you hear that?

I know Sony has been aggressive with developer and indie relations trying to reach out and making developers happier. Maybe Ancel could be a good fit in self-publishing games with the help of Sony.
 

TunaLover

Member
First it was Shinji Mikami because Capcom broke the exclusitivy with Nintendo, now it's Ancel because Ubisoft decision to put it mutiplatform with the consequent delay.
 

Madouu

Member
First it was Shinji Mikami because Capcom broke the exclusitivy with Nintendo, now it's Ancel because Ubisoft decision to put it mutiplatform with the consequent delay.

The article says him wanting to leave was prior to the whole ubisoft rayman mess and that he was already in discussion about it with them but gamekult also notes that the delay for the wii u version might've been an easier decision to make for the ubisoft higher ups (not much protest from project lead) since Ancel has supposedly his mind busy planning his new ventures.
 

JDSN

Banned
Get that console war crap out of here, I hope he can capitalize on this so we can get BGaE2.
Oh crap, what if Watch_Dogs used to be BGaE2?
 

qko

Member
After busting their asses working night and day for months only to have their finished game delayed for a half-year I'm going to guess that whatever they are working on they aren't working on it with much enthusiasm or sense of urgency.

I suspect many of them are already mentally and emotionally checked out.


Add the fact that if they had been contracted as independent devs to make this game, they would not have cared as to when Ubisoft releases the game as they would have moved on to another project. Working under Ubisoft means that they are now ordered to continue working on the game until the heads at Ubisoft tell them they are done and able to work on something else.
 
This is the "best" kind of rumour. It plays into fans hopes and expectations and takes advantage of the recent situation, it hedges enough that they aren't wrong if it doesn't come true, and any responsibility that they would have to take would be 6+ months away so chances are no one will even remember to hold them to task. Great job.

I heard Nomura is quitting Square Enix to join Sony as Director of Exclusive Games PS4 Rules as soon as Versus is released.

Oh, so he'll be there forever?
 

GC|Simon

Member
Would be the best possible outcome out of the Rayman Legends delay debacle. Ubi sucks and Ancel would be better off without them.
 

Yoshi

Headmaster of Console Warrior Jugendstrafanstalt
Actually considering Ancel's tendency to play with new hardware gadgets, I think he would be a great fit for Nintendo. Also, Nintendo definitely has needed a European team ever since they sold Rare. A creative genius like ancel would be the best lead they could get.
 

Oersted

Member
Actually considering Ancel's tendency to play with new hardware gadgets, I think he would be a great fit for Nintendo. Also, Nintendo definitely has needed a European team ever since they sold Rare. A creative genius like ancel would be the best lead they could get.

They have one since last year in France...
 

Pie and Beans

Look for me on the local news, I'll be the guy arrested for trying to burn down a Nintendo exec's house.
Dev leaving rumour. A hundred posts for Nintendo to pick them up. Never happens. Repeat.
 

grandjedi6

Master of the Google Search
Doubtful. An unsubstantiated rumor that would be a fanboy's wet dream. Also Ancel seems to have a pretty cushy job there and Ubisoft seems to enjoy trotting him out for stuff.
 

Cosmozone

Member
If this happens, I'd be interested if Ancel is actually inclined to try different things. His games all have this general quirkiness at this point and are not very different in atmosphere.
 
I would love Ancel to be allowed to do his own thing and be his own boss. He's an amazing game designer working with a great team, but he's been at ubisoft for forever and it's hard for me to picture him leaving.
 

Gummb

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about Rayman Legends Wii U.
I really hope their composers are on board for leaving as well.... Christopher Heral at least. :'(

I also hope he finds an avenue to pay for his games. Kickstarter is cool, but will only generate several hundreds of thousands of dollars. Hopefully some publisher picks him up that agrees to accommodate this wants with support and help to ensure profitability.
 

Oersted

Member
Another rumor about Ancel leaving to start his own studio circulated three years ago.

I wouldn't be surprised if this a thing Ancel occasionally threatens to get his way with Ubisoft. Nothing really came of it last time, so I'd be surprised if there was a change now.

Nice find, but this was wootgaming. I don´t even know this site. Gamekult was reliable so far and has actual connections with Ubisoft.

Also

Michel-Ancel-Protest-Rayman-Legends-600x369.jpg


It's just Mobiclip, they produce middleware, not games.

I know. But its still an working enviroment ;) . He and his 5-6 coworkers would be a start. Would be.
 

TheMan

Member
his games don't sell, unfortunately, so his new studio would likely not be open very long. surely he must realize this.
 

Hana-Bi

Member
"Michael Ancel to head European based Nintendo development studio" would be the best news ever. So it won't happen.

So something like "Michael Ancel joins Microsoft European Studios after talks with Phil Harrison to make Xbox in Europe finally relevant." could happen?
 

Lijik

Member
If this happens, I'd be interested if Ancel is actually inclined to try different things. His games all have this general quirkiness at this point and are not very different in atmosphere.

You say that like its a bad thing, especially in an industry thats currently starved of quirkiness as is.
Besides you could say this about most auteurs in the industry. "That Tim Schafer all his games are quirky adventures when is he gonna do something different." "That Kamiya sure loves his action, and he sure loves it to be stylish in one way or another when is he gonna change things up"
 

SykoTech

Member
Dev leaving rumour. A hundred posts for Nintendo to pick them up. Never happens. Repeat.

Dev begging is the new port begging!

Honsetly though, this sounds like one of those "safe" rumors a Stumpokapow stated. Something that just cashes in on the wet dreams of fan(boy) movements and they won't have to worry about being called out on if it doesn't come true. Not putting much stock into this.

But if it somehow does end up being true, I hope Ubisoft still makes finish Beyond Good & Evil 2 like Sony's doing with Ueda/The Last Guardian. Don't let him off the hook that easy!
 
The part in the rumor, "Several sources state Ubi and Nintendo were unable to come to an agreement on distribution and marketing of Legends, which was a reason for the port to PS3 / X360," bothers me a bit.
 
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