Ubisoft disbands the team responsible for Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown.

Ubisoft has made the decision to dissolve the team responsible for the recent release of the platformer game Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, according to information from a prominent French journalist. It is alleged that the main reason for this measure is that the game's sales did not meet expectations, which led Ubisoft to need "more hands to help on other projects that had better sales potential."

Abdelhak Elguess, a senior producer of the game, communicated that most of the members of the Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown team have been reassigned to other projects where their expertise will be more beneficial. During its first weeks on the market, the title sold approximately 300,000 copies, generating revenue of about $15 million. According to recent reports, these sales figures may have "sealed the fate" of the game and its development team. Despite Ubisoft staff advocating for a sequel or more downloadable content, their requests were said to have been denied.

Interestingly, the company's executives reportedly refused to approve a sequel, arguing that it could cannibalize the sales of the original game. This reasoning has raised doubts, as logic suggests that sequels tend to attract more players, especially if they are released years after the initial title.

The situation is disheartening for several reasons. Firstly, the game has been well received, with a score of 86 on Metacritic and user reviews averaging around 8.5. Many players consider it an excellent Metroidvania that can compete with genre classics like Hollow Knight and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. Additionally, frustration may grow as many gamers criticize Ubisoft for not taking risks to create new experiences and merely relying on iterative improvements to their established franchises.

Reports indicate that the development of the game was a positive experience for the team. The journalist who broke this news mentioned that several employees rated it as the best production experience of their lives, considering it a "beacon of hope" for those feeling exhausted by the endless development cycle of Beyond Good and Evil 2.

Despite these qualities, the game did not achieve its goal in terms of commercial performance. While there are no concrete data, it is possible that being a 2D game and having a price of $60 may have influenced its limited success. It is worth mentioning that this title was not the only Prince of Persia platformer released this year, as Evil Empire, the developers of Dead Cells, also conducted an early release of The Rogue Prince of Persia in May, a roguelite-style title that may have confused consumers.