Michel Ancel
Image: Ubisoft

Michel Ancel recently announced his departure not just from Ubisoft, but from the entire video games industry, and stated that his next venture will be a wildlife sanctuary.

The dust had barely settled on this massive announcement when French newspaper Libération issued a report which accused the designer of toxic leadership during his time with the company.

According to Kotaku, many of the complaints made during this investigation are directly related to the development of Beyond Good and Evil 2, the epic sequel Ancel has left behind following his departure from Ubisoft. The game's protracted development is, the report claims, partly down to Ancel's poor management and repeated changes to the scope of the project, which has allegedly taken its toll on staff, resulting in absences due to stress.

According to one source:

Michel needs the ideas to be his. He often prefers to improvise something of his own rather than listen to the team and look at the structured work we've done at his request.

He is able to explain to you that you are a genius, that your idea is great, and then he can take you apart in meetings by saying that you are a piece of s**t, that your work is worthless, and not talk to you for a month.

Ancel has taken to Instagram to contest the report, stating:

Take few people with rage and jealousy and let them speak in the name of hundreds. Publish the news fast so that it combines with sexual harassment from other news at Ubi soft. I this serious? Is this what you expect from a national newspaper. I will fight for the truth because such accusations are a shame. I worked hard on every of my projects and always had respect for the teams. The accusations are wrong.

I left Video Games because I was exhausted, this is not a way for me to escape any responsibilities. Like many other people, I participate to the independent investigation because I still believe in truth and justice.

Last week, Ubisoft appeared to tease a new game in the ongoing Rayman series which Ancel created 25 years ago, but then deleted the "confusing" post. Speaking of Rayman, Ancel recently posted a piece of fan artwork on his Instagram account.