'Beyond Good and Evil 2' creative director Emile Morel has died aged 40.

The Ubisoft game designer - who worked at the gaming firm since 2009 - was immensely proud of the work he did on the upcoming action-adventure title.

His passing was confirmed on LinkedIn by former colleague M. Gabrielle Shrager, who wrote: “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. Emile was so very proud of Beyond Good and Evil 2, the Space Monkeys and his teammates. He will be sorely missed.”

The highly-anticipated game - which was first announced over 15 years ago - had a new trailer in 2017 while creator Michel Ancel gave some updates before leaving in 2020, but the studio insisted they were still pushing ahead.

In a statement to Eurogamer, a Ubisoft spokesperson said: "Beyond Good and Evil 2's development is underway and the team is hard at work to deliver on its ambitious promise."