Ubisoft Reportedly Refused Prince Of Persia: The Lost Crown Sequel

Updated 23/10/2024 at 10:44 BST: As reported by Eurogamer, Ubisoft has confirmed that it disbanded the team behind The Lost Crown, saying that "other projects [...] will benefit from their expertise." However, it also noted that it knows "players have a love for this brand."

Summary

• Ubisoft reportedly rejected expansions and a sequel for Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown.
• Despite critical success, Ubisoft quickly abandoned the game due to poor sales.
• Ubisoft reassigned the team to other projects that were deemed to have higher sales potential.

Ubisoft reportedly turned down expansion and sequel pitches by Ubisoft Montpellier for Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, before disbanding the team behind the game and assigning them to different projects.

This report comes from Gautoz, a French journalist with a track record of reporting on Ubisoft, especially Ubisoft Montpellier. A translated summary of Gautoz's 30-minute video was provided by Arubedo on ResetEra. According to Gautoz, Ubisoft quickly gave up on The Lost Crown post-release because of poor sales, despite the game being a critical success. The team's attempts to get expansions or a sequel greenlit were turned down by higher-ups at Ubisoft. The team members were then re-assigned to other projects that Ubisoft felt had higher sales potential. Ubisoft felt a sequel wouldn't sell well and releasing another game would hurt the long-term sales of the first game.

The Lost Crown Was Quickly Abandoned By Ubisoft

According to an Insider Gaming report in January, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown sold around 300,000 copies. The Metroidvania was widely praised by critics for its fluid platforming and challenging combat, holding an average critic score of 87 on OpenCritic. Our own 4/5 review of The Lost Crown called it "one of the best entries in the series."

It's a tumultuous time for Ubisoft amid commercial failures, falling share prices and now, industrial action. Ubisoft employees at Ubisoft Montpellier and other first-party studios went on strike last week to protest return-to-office (RTO) mandates. According to the SJTV union that organised the strike, Ubisoft broke promises made to staff and "[called] into question the way they organise their lives," (thanks, Fortune). There were 50 employees on the picket line in Montpellier.

Ostensibly, Beyond Good and Evil 2 is in development at Ubisoft Montpellier, but with nothing substantial about the game released for years and its lack of a release date, a lot of people have speculated the project has been all but abandoned by the studio. It has been 21 years since the release of the original Beyond Good and Evil.

As for Ubisoft, there are reports that the founding Guillemot family and Tencent, both partial owners of the publicly traded company, are conspiring to buy out the other shareholders and take Ubisoft private to stabilise the rapidly declining value of the company.

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown

WHERE TO PLAY

Prince of Persia; The Lost Crown is a 2D platformer from Ubisoft Montpellier. Using his combat skills and time powers, the Prince must explore the mysteries of Persia and Mount Qaf, battling a range of enemies along the way.