Ubisoft Disbands Team Behind PoP: The Lost Crown and Reassigns Devs to Other Projects, Including Rumored BG&E2 and Rayman Remake
The team responsible for Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown has reportedly been disbanded. Ubisoft was also said to have stopped work on the game's sequel.
Update (October 23)
Additional information on the matter was provided by Insider-Gaming. They show that these "other projects" at Ubisoft are: Beyond Good and Evil 2 (most of the PoP: The Lost Crown team joined the devs), Project Ovr, the next main installment of the Ghost Recon series (approx. 12 people) and Project Steambot, which is a "remake of Rayman developed at Ubisoft Milan" (also approx. 12 people).
Update (October 23)
In a statement for Eurogamer, Ubisoft addressed what the gaming media were writing about yesterday evening. From the information provided, it appears that the team members responsible for Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown are still employed at the company and continue to be part of Ubisoft Montpellier studio, although they are now working on "other projects".
Let's give the floor to Abdelhak Elguess, Senior Producer for PoP: TLC :
"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 [whether this means the Sands of Time remake was not clarified – ed. note].
Original message (October 22)
The earthquake at Ubisoft is probably not subsiding. It's even possible that it's gaining strength. According to the latest news from a French isider by the handle Gautoz, the giant allegedly liquidated the team responsible for the highly acclaimed Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown.
The main reason for dissolving the team working on the game was reportedly due to not meeting sales expectations. Thus, we will most likely not see a sequel to the discussed game, which was supposedly planned but ultimately did not get a green light from Ubisoft's management. Interestingly, the decision to disband the team and end support for the game was made just a few weeks after its premiere (January 18, 2024).
For the first time, Gautoz revealed the above revelations on the YouTube channel Origami. Unfortunately, both the video and the insider's post about the alleged developer's decision is available only in French, so we have to rely on the English translation, published for example on ResetEra, which also mentions the painstaking work on the already mythical Beyond Good & Evil 2.
"I've heard and read "It was the best game production in my entire life" three or four times in a single week-end while getting information on the game's dev. One after the other [developer - ed. note] I was told me that it [working on PoP: The Lost Crown] was seen as a beacon of hope to create and a safe space for people that were burnt out byBG&E 2 the team has been disbanded by Ubisoft."
It is worth adding that after the alleged abandonment of the aforementioned sequel, employees of the French company were insisting on two more expansion (in total, one story DLC was released - Mask of Darkness - and several fresh modes). Unfortunately, they also reportedly hit a wall here. The management reportedly preferred to redirect employees to create other projects with greater "sales potential." Additionally, Ubisoft reportedly did not want the sequel to "cannibalize" the long-term sales of the first game, which sounds, admittedly, quite grotesque.
We would like to remind you that from August 2024, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is available on Steam. Since then, the title has received almost 1,400 reviews, 83% of which are positive.
