Emile Morel, the creative director of Beyond Good & Evil 2 and one of Ubisoft‘s core game designers over the course of the last decade, has died aged 40.
The news was broken by IGN based on two LinkedIn posts shared by Morel’s close friends and colleagues. “A cherished colleague for over a decade at Ubisoft Montpellier, we laughed and wept through good times and bad, and shipped a lot great games together,” said Monique Gabrielle Shrager, lead writer at developer Lightspeed LA. “Emile was so very proud of Beyond Good and Evil 2, the Space Monkeys and his teammates. He will be sorely missed.”
Morel’s career started with Eden Games, as a game designer and level designer working on the pre-production of Alone in the Dark for PC and Xbox 360. Then, he was instrumental in the development of Alone in the Dark: Inferno – the PlayStation 3 version of the game – and Test Drive Unlimited as one of Eden Games’ senior game designers in the late noughties.
Moving over to Ubisoft in 2009, he contributed to Rayman Legends and Rayman Fiesta Run. Initially, Morel was the associate creative director of the anticipated Beyond Good & Evil 2, before stepping up to become the game’s creative director following Jean-Marc Geffroy’s departure.
“You’ve been such a great and kind partner during all these years at Ubisoft. I’m grateful to have worked with you on so many projects,” said Ubisoft Montpellier producer Greg Hermittant in his tribute to Morel. “Even through the most difficult times, you always remained the caring and supportive person you were with your beautiful positive mind.”
“But the most important is the wonderful moments we had. With no doubts Rayman Legends is my best memory. I will miss our private jokes and imitations. You will miss Beyond Good & Evil. Be assured we will continue your work,” concluded Hermittant.