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You, yes you, can contribute content to ‘Beyond Good & Evil 2’

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The more we see of Beyond Good & Evil 2, the more it’s clear that Ubisoft has lofty ambitions for the follow-up to the 2003 cult classic. Along with showing off a new cinematic trailer and pre-alpha gameplay footage, Ubisoft announced an interesting partnership for the game during its E3 2018 press conference.

Ubisoft has partnered with HitRecord, a company founded by actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt to let fans create content that could appear in Beyond Good & Evil 2‘s large open world. Gordon-Levitt explained that HitRecord is a place where people collaborate on projects such as short films, but this will be the first time HitRecord will work on a video game. The Space Monkey program will allow users to see their own artwork, music, and other content inside the world of Beyond Good & Evil 2.

Beyond Good & Evil 2: Create & Collaborate with HitRECord & the Space Monkey Program | Ubisoft [NA]

It’s not quite clear how this will work at this time, but more details on the Space Monkey program will be released at a Ubisoft community event this fall. Gordon-Levitt did confirm, however, that users will be paid for their contributions.

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If it sounds like Ubisoft is outsourcing development on its open world to fans, that may be partially true, but the latest trailer suggests that Ubisoft has a grand story in mind for the prequel as well. Pey’j, the pig, was once again prominently featured, but the character that stole the show was none other than Jade, the lead protagonist from the original.

However, both the trailer and words said by the developers suggest that Jade will be the villain in the prequel. That’s quite the turn and should make for an interesting storyline. Since we know Jade eventually becomes good, we imagine she won’t be villainous for the whole game.

The game takes place at the end of the 24th century and the developers referred to it as a space opera on stage. That’s a curious description, but the new trailer definitely seems to imply space travel will be a primary feature.

Beyond Good & Evil 2 has had an up-and-down development cycle dating all the way back to 2007. The first attempt at a follow-up began more than a decade ago. Series creator Michael Ancel originally foresaw it as a direct sequel to the original. Those plans were later scrapped, Beyond Good & Evil 2 disappeared until late 2016 when Ancel confirmed the follow-up would be a prequel.

We still have no idea when to expect Beyond Good & Evil 2. Hopefully, we will learn more at the community event this fall.

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Steven Petite
Steven Petite
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Steven is a writer from Northeast Ohio currently based in Louisiana. He writes about video games and books, and consumes…
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