Michel Ancel (French pronunciation: [miʃɛl ɑ̃sɛl]; born 29 March 1972) is a retired Monégasque-French video game designer.

He is also known for the critically acclaimed video game Beyond Good & Evil, as well as for King Kong, based on Peter Jackson's 2005 film of the same name.

Born in Monaco in 1972, Michel Ancel spent his early years traveling all around the world due to his father's military career.

Ancel joined Ubi Soft as a graphic artist after meeting the game author Nicolas Choukroun in Montpellier at the age of 17.

Developed by Ubisoft Montpellier and Ancel, UbiArt is a 2.5D game engine that allows artists and animators to easily create visual content and use it in an interactive environment.

UbiArt tools were expected to be released for third-party use as open-source software in 2011,[13] but this failed to materialise due to concerns of the perceived complexities to properly develop in it raised from personnel within the company.

He would continue to contribute to the development of projects at Ubisoft, including "an extremely ambitious new title that is very close to his and the team's heart.

[16] In September 2020, Ancel announced he was leaving the video game industry to spend time on a wildlife sanctuary.

[17] Despite this, Ancel would later show dissatisfaction at Wild, as Ubisoft Paris took over development, radically reworked the game and abandoned it due to internal conflicts, rendering it effectively cancelled by Sony.