Ubisoft has disbanded the team behind Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown

Ubisoft has disbanded the team behind a newly released stage Prince of Persia: The Lost Crownaccording to a respected French journalist. The alleged reason for disbanding the group is simple. The game did not meet sales expectations and Ubisoft “needed more hands to help with other projects that had better sales potential.” This is from the version published on Reset the Era.

“Most of the team members have worked Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown they have moved on to other projects that will benefit from their experience,” said Abdelhak Elguess, executive producer of the show. Eurogamer.

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown sold nearly 300,000 copies within the first few weeks of its availability, totaling $15 million, according to the report Playing Inside. These sales figures are alleged to have “sealed the finish line” for the game and its development team. Ubisoft staff reportedly pitched for a sequel, or additional DLC, but were reportedly denied.

Ironically, the management of the company reportedly refused to highlight another sequel on the grounds that it would end the sales of the first one. I’m not sure that’s how sequels work, especially when they come out years after the first game, but whatever.

This is sad for many reasons. First of all, the game was great. The Metacritic review average sits at 86, while user reviews hover around 8.5 out of 10. I played it and found it to be a fun Metroidvania that could easily sit next to other classics of the genre, such as The Hollow Knight again Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.

It’s also ironic because gamers constantly complain that Ubisoft doesn’t try anything new, instead relying on iterative development of its core franchises or using tried and true gameplay mechanics from pre-existing IPs. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown it’s a retro-style throwback, sure, but it’s not just another lifeless open-world map filled with quests and secret missions.

By all accounts, it looks and has been a great development experience. The French journalist who broke the story, Gautoz, said he heard from many workers that it was the best experience of producing a game in their lives. It was seen as a “light of hope” for “people burned” by the endless cycle of development Beyond Good and Evil 2.

Why didn’t I do well? No hard data, but this was a 60 dollar 2D sidescroller. That could be one reason. Only Nintendo can charge a full amount of retro style titles.

It’s also worth noting that this was one of two Prince of Persia games to be released this year, which could have thrown some confusion into the market. Evil Empire, the group behind Dead Cellsit was also introduced slowly The Tyrant Prince of Persia back in May as an early access title. This is a roguelite spin on traditional franchise games.