French publisher and developer Ubisoft responded to rumors about the dissolution of the team of the metroidvania Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, and insider Tom Henderson spoke about the consequences of the situation.
Image source: Steam (kosttank92)
According to Origami, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown did not live up to Ubisoft’s hopes, and therefore management refused to release a sequel/second addition and disbanded the development team within the Ubisoft Montpellier studio.
In a statement to Eurogamer, a Ubisoft spokesperson confirmed that most of the Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown team has been transferred to other projects, with the remaining staff focusing on expanding the game’s accessibility.
The topic of a potentially rejected sequel was not touched upon by Ubisoft’s comment (image source: Ubisoft)
Henderson, in his piece for Insider Gaming, adds that Ubisoft’s dissatisfaction with the game’s results stems from expectations on par with the most successful Metroidvanias, while The Lost Crown sold about 1 million copies.
As for the employees, according to Henderson, they were transferred to three other projects:
- Most of the employees work on Beyond Good and Evil 2;
- About a dozen people for a project codenamed Ovr (the next numbered Ghost Recon);
- About a dozen more – for the unannounced remake of the platformer Rayman (code name Steambot) from Ubisoft Milan.
The Steambot team is advised by Rayman creator Michel Ancel, who left Ubisoft in 2020
As Henderson reports, the release of Beyond Good and Evil 2 is still several years away, and developers inside Ubisoft do not understand why management continues to spend tens of millions of dollars on the game every year.
At the same time, the production of Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, unlike many other projects within Ubisoft, supposedly went smoothly. Management’s high expectations, however, prevented the team from exploring creative horizons.