According to a report by the French website Origami, the team responsible for Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown has been disbanded.
In video published today in French (for which IGN has independently verified a translation published on ResetEra), Origami reports that the team behind The Lost Crown has been disbanded despite seemingly positive reports from developers about their experience working on the game.
According to Gauthier Andres’ tweet: “Three or four times in one weekend I heard and read, ‘This was the best game production of my entire life,'” when getting information about the game’s development. I was told that one by one was seen as a beacon of hope to create a unthreatening space for people burned by Beyond Good & Evil 2. The team was disbanded by Ubisoft.”
Three or four times in one weekend I heard or read “the best production of my life” about the development of PoP The Lost Crown. In turn, hoping for another way to create a rehabilitation zone for people burned by BGE2, the team was disbanded by Ubisoft. https://t.co/FFz9cfm4xj
— Gaautoz (@gaautoz) October 22, 2024
The video also shows that the game’s fate was actually decided just a few weeks after its release. The game’s core development team was reportedly vying for a sequel, or at least more expansions beyond the single “Mask of Darkness” expansion, but Ubisoft allegedly needed more help with other projects that had greater sales potential. The report found that The Lost Crown failed to meet Ubisoft’s sales expectations, with management expressing concerns that the sequel would cannibalize the first game’s long-term sales.
The game was developed at Ubisoft Montpellier, which employs hundreds of people and was most recently known for its work on the endlessly in limbo Beyond Good and Evil 2. When asked for comment, senior producer of Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown Abdelhak Elguess sent the following statement to IGN: ” I’m extremely proud of the work and passion of our team at Ubisoft Montpellier to create a game that appeals to players and critics alike, and I’m confident of its long-term success. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is now nearing the end of its post-launch roadmap, which includes three free content updates and one DLC that was released in September.
“We are now focused on bringing the game to more players: it was recently released on Steam and will be available on Mac in the winter. Most of the team members who worked on Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown have moved on. We know gamers love the franchise, and Ubisoft is excited to bring more Prince of Persia adventures to the table in the future.”
In our review, we gave Prince of Persia a score of 8/10, stating that it “captures not only what made games like The Sands of Time so good, but also addresses many of the minor issues that have plagued 3D games of this series by choosing a 2D perspective and owning it.”
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Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Her posts can be found on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Have a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
