Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown's team reportedly disbanded, with Ubisoft execs seemingly not being fans of a potential sequel, despite all the positive reviews
A senior producer on the game says "most" members of the Lost Crown team have been "shifted to other projects that will benefit from their expertise".
Ubisoft has reportedly disbanded the team behind Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, having allegedly opted to prioritise helping out other projects with “better sales potential”.
This is according to french outlet Origami in a YouTube video posted in that language, which cites sources at Ubisoft Montpellier, and has since had a translated summary by a ResetEra user verified by IGN.
According to this summary, the report claims that The Lost Crown didn't meet internal sales expectations at Ubisoft, with the studio having now opted to divert its developers into working on other projects with “better sales potential”.
It also cites Prince of Persia’s “core game development team” as having fought to try and get a sequel greenlit, and more expansions beyond the Mask of Darkness DLC that came out in September, with Ubisoft higher-ups allegedly expressing concerns that the former could cannibalize long term sales of the first game.
“I've heard and read 'It was the best game production in my entire life' three or four times in a single weekend while getting information on the game's development,” French journalist Gautoz, the report’s author, added in a tweet, “One after the other I was told it was seen as a beacon of hope to create a safe space for people that were burnt out by Beyond Good & Evil 2. The team has been disbanded by Ubisoft.”
VG247 reached out to Ubisoft for comment, and recieved the following statement from Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown senior producer Abdelhak Elguess: "I'm extremely proud of our team's work and passion at Ubisoft Montpellier to create a game that resonated with players and critics alike, and I am confident in its long-term success. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is now at the end of its Post-Launch roadmap with three free content updates and one DLC that released in September.
"We are now focusing on making the game available to more players: it was recently launched on Steam, and will be available on Mac by this winter. Most of the team members who worked on Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown have shifted to other projects that will benefit from their expertise. We know players have a love for this brand and Ubisoft is excited to bring more Prince of Persia experiences in the future.”
A Ubisoft spokesperson also confirmed to us that there have been no layoffs as part of this process.
In our review of The Lost Crown, our EIC Dom Peppiatt wrote that the game is: "a Metroidvania that’s learned from the best, but without sacrificing any element of its own personality – for better and for worse".