Prince Of Persia: The Lost Crown studio not closed despite team break-up-GameCentral-Entertainment – Metro

There’s not going to be a sequel (Ubisoft)

Although the team behind this year’s Prince Of Persia: The Lost Crown has been disbanded, Ubisoft Montpellier has not been shut down.

The Prince Of Persia franchise has not had the best of luck in recent years. It’s well over a decade since there’s been a mainline, multiformat release, as the remake of The Sands Of Time slowly sinks through every level of development hell.

The Rogue Prince Of Persia is still in early access on Steam but the highest profile release of recent years was Prince Of Persia: The Lost Crown in January, which was an excellent Metroidvania by the Ubisoft Montpellier studio.

Unfortunately, it didn’t sell very well though and Ubisoft has announced that the team responsible has been disbanded but, thankfully, that doesn’t mean that the studio itself is being shut down.

According to French journalist Gauthier ‘Gautoz’ Andres, the game’s fate was decided only a few weeks after launch, due to disappointing sales.

Some members of the team tried to argue in favour of a sequel, and if not that then two more expansions, but they were told no. Supposedly, Ubisoft claimed they needed the team to help on other projects, with ‘better sales potential.’

Apparently, Ubisoft also suggested that releasing a sequel for the game would cannibalise sales of the original, which Andres describes as a ‘crazy justification.’

In fact, this is exactly the reason that Nintendo suggested Mario + Rabbids Sparks Of Hope didn’t sell as well as the original, especially as it was released on the same format, so it seems Ubisoft took that advice to heart.

Ubisoft has tacitly acknowledged the news, with senior producer Abdelhak Elguess telling IGN: ‘I’m extremely proud of our team’s work and passion at Ubisoft Montpellier to create a game that resonated with players and critics alike, and I am confident in its long-term success. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown is now at the end of its post-launch roadmap with three free content updates and one DLC that released in September.’

Although many assumed the news meant that Ubisoft Montpellier would be closed down this is not apparently the case, even though the studio’s other big project is the troubled Beyond Good And Evil 2.

Ubisoft Montpellier is one of the company’s oldest studios, originally responsible for the Rayman games under Michel Ancel.

According to Pablo González on Twitter, the studio is definitely not being closed and the team have already been put to work on other projects, although some staff have voluntarily left the company after the news.

Assuming that Beyond Good And Evil 2 still hasn’t been cancelled it’s unclear what else the studio is working on or what the other projects were that Ubisoft needed the team’s help with – although it seems reasonable to imagine that might include The Sands Of Time remake.

The Sands Of Time remake is taking a very, very long time (Ubisoft)

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