The Rayman franchise may be coming back, and the announcement has arrived in a slightly odd way. As rumors circulated yesterday saying that the Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown development team at Ubisoft Montpellier was being dismantled after a sequel was rejected, Ubisoft first confirmed that this was indeed the case, explaining that staff were being "shifted to other projects." Later, a fresh report came forth saying Ubisoft had split the studio"s staff across three projects, with one of them being a Rayman remake.
As that report started making waves, today, Ubisoft has once again responded. In a statement to Eurogamer, the French company has confirmed that a Rayman project is indeed in the works at Ubisoft Montpellier and Ubisoft Milan, but it"s still in the early stages:
"We are pleased to confirm Ubisoft Montpellier and Ubisoft Milan have recently started an exploration phase on the Rayman brand. The project is still in its early stages, and we will share more details later."
The company also confirmed that Michel Ancel, the creator of Rayman, is involved in the project as a consultant "to ensure consistency within the universe." Ancel had left Ubisoft in 2020 after working on Beyond Good and Evil 2.
If the new project continues on its development path and eventually releases, this will be the first mainline Rayman entry to land since Rayman Legends, which released over a decade ago. It"s unclear if this will indeed be a remake of the original 1995 Rayman or an entirely new platformer installment for fans.
The original report by Insider-Gaming also went on to say that some Ubisoft Montpellier staff was moved to an unannounced Ghost Recon project as well as the long-time-coming Beyond Good and Evil 2. Ubisoft has not made any comment on these two claims, however.