Ubisoft veteran Michel Ancel has quit the games industry

Games development veteran Michel Ancel has revealed that he is leaving the industry.

In a post on Instagram, the Ubisoft alum said that he wanted to focus on his second passion, wildlife, and will be working at a sanctuary focused on education.

Ancel is best known for creating the Rayman series, which debuted back in 1995, as well as 2003's Beyond Good & Evil. Most recently he has been working on the eagerly-anticipated sequel to that latter title, as well as survival game Wild, which was announced in 2014. There's no word on whether that project is still in development.

Senior producer Guillaume Brunier wrote in a blog post that Ancel hasn't been working on Beyond Good & Evil 2 for some time, but had been involved in creating the core concept and world.

"Exceptional career"

"Today Ubisoft announces that Michel Ancel has chosen to leave the video game industry after an exceptional career spanning more than 30 years," the French firm said in a statement to GamesIndustry.biz.

"A nature-lover, Michel has been working on a personal project dedicated to the protection of wildlife for a long time. This project, a wildlife sanctuary in the region of Montpellier, France, is now growing in scope, and he wishes to put his full effort into this longstanding passion.

"Michel is at the origin of some of Ubisoft and the video game industry's most beloved franchises, including Rayman, the Raving Rabbids and Beyond Good and Evil, whose second opus, Beyond Good and Evil 2 is currently in development. The teams at Ubisoft Montpellier are currently focusing on the main stages of production, aligned with the vision set out by Michel. They will have more to share with their community of fans in the months to come.

"We would like to thank Michel for the incredible creative vision he has brought to Ubisoft over the course of his career, and wish him all the best for this new venture."

This story first appeared on PCGamesInsider.biz.