New details about the future of the Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown developers have emerged following a report of Ubisoft’s decision to disband the team.
On October 22, French media outlet ORIGAMI (summed up on ResetEra) reported that a team working on Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown at Ubisoft Montpellier had been disbanded.
It appears that the game’s fate was decided just a few weeks after its launch. The Lost Crown reportedly didn’t meet Ubisoft’s sales expectations.
Journalist and insider Gauthier Andres added that the team was viewed internally as a “beacon of hope to create and a safe space for people that were burnt out by [Beyond Good and Evil 2],” with several sources calling The Lost Crown’s development “the best production in my entire life.”
The game’s senior producer Abdelhak Elguess told Eurogamer that most of the team members have been moved to other projects within Ubisoft. According to Insider Gaming, these are:
- Beyond Good and Evil 2 (most of the Lost Crown team);
- Project Ovr, the next mainline installment in the Ghost Recon series (around a dozen employees);
- Project Steambot, a Rayman remake in development at Ubisoft Milan (also a dozen devs).
Insider Gaming added that Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown has sold around 1 million copies since its launch in January 18. The previous report stated that it reached 300k players in two weeks.
However, Ubisoft had “ridiculously high” internal goals for The Lost Crown, expecting it sell millions of units, on par with the biggest games in the genre.