Duke Nukem Forever has been dethroned by Beyond Good and Evil 2 for most delayed game of all time
When Ubisoft made the choice to delay Skull & Bones for the fifth time, a few comparisons were made to Duke Nukem Forever, a game known well for its amount of delays and lengthy development cycle. But in actuality, there was a better comparison to be made--another Ubisoft game, in fact. While it took Duke Nukem Forever 5,156 days to be announced and subsequently released, Ubisoft's Beyond Good and Evil--initially teased in 2008--is still in development, with no release in sight, 5,239 days after its official reveal. That means it now holds the Guinness World Record for the longest development period for a AA video game.
In the years since BG&E2's announcement, lead director Michel Ancel has stated that pre-production on the game had begun as early as 2007, though it would eventually lose priority to other projects such as Rayman Legends, and that Beyond Good and Evil 2 would again take a backseat in favor of development on Ancel's other upcoming game Wild. Ubisoft has continued to tease the game, featuring it at E3 2017, E3 2018, and showcasing gameplay segments as recently as 2020. However, following 2020, Michel Ancel left Ubisoft and the video game industry, though Ubisoft's financial reports claim development is still ongoing and the project has not been canceled. Obviously, the game lacks any form of release window at this time.
