Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown Team Reportedly Disbanded by Ubisoft

by

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown Team Reportedly Disbanded by Ubisoft

Key Takeaways

  • The Ubisoft Montpellier team behind Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown has reportedly been disbanded.
  • The team was pushing for a sequel and more paid expansions before that happened.
  • PoP: The Lost Crown’s weak sales are cited as the primary reason for this purported development.

As a longtime fan who’s journeyed through countless realms with the agile and charismatic Prince of Persia, it’s disheartening to hear about the dissolution of the Ubisoft Montpellier team behind “Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown.” This game, despite its weak sales, was a breath of fresh air in the action-adventure genre and I had high hopes for a sequel.

According to reports, the team responsible for creating “Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown” at Ubisoft Montpellier has been disbanded. This apparent closure is believed to be due to their unsuccessful attempts to pitch a sequel and other projects, which hints that the game may not have sold as well as expected.

Back in 1994, Ubisoft Montpellier started out as Ubi Pictures. This means it’s one of the oldest studios within the Ubisoft family. As we approach October 2024, estimates suggest that the workforce will number approximately 400. The team is split into various groups, each working on their own projects or lending a hand to other Ubisoft divisions or studios with their tasks.

According to reports from Gautoz (a French journalist and YouTuber, as sourced by TheGamer), an anonymous source close to the matter has indicated that one of the teams has been disbanded due to underperformance in sales. This team reportedly worked on “Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown,” a game whose commercial performance fell significantly short of Ubisoft’s expectations, according to a January 2024 report from Insider Gaming. Although Ubisoft has never publicly disclosed the specific figures, this report suggests that Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown sold approximately 300,000 units within its first two weeks on the market.

Ubisoft Montpellier Was Reportedly Pitching PoP: The Lost Crown 2, More Expansions

Based on a translation from Gautoz’s video report shared by Arubedo on ResetEra Forum, it appears that the team behind the project had been trying to get approval for a sequel but were unsuccessful. After this, they proposed two more expansions following “Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown’s Mask of Darkness,” which was released on September 17. However, these suggestions were also turned down, as Ubisoft reportedly thought it would be more productive for the team to work on other projects with greater commercial potential instead. It is said that the decision to cease support for the game was made shortly after its release, while “Mask of Darkness” was still in development.

Ubisoft Was Supposedly Concerned PoP: The Lost Crown 2 Would Hurt its Predecessor’s Sales

In early 2024, when the plan for a sequel was dismissed, it was allegedly suggested by the studio executives that a sequel would harm the long-term sales of “Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown,” though this wasn’t the primary reason for the pitch’s rejection. This concern was among several reasons mentioned by the same source.

In other words, the developers might not be entirely unique in their confusion over this issue. This kind of scenario has occurred before with Ubisoft, who tends to recoup costs for underperforming games by promoting long-term sales rather than relying on sequels. An example of this strategy was seen with Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope, which experienced a resurgence in sales around the time Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown was released in mid-January 2024.

Read More

2024-10-22 23:14