Ubisoft confirms it disbanded the Prince of Persia Lost Crown team, but Ubi Montpellier still exists

The development team that worked on Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown was disbanded to work on more profitable projects

Ubisoft

Update: October 23, 2024

Ubisoft issued a statement to Eurogamer that confirmed Gautoz's report about The Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown team being disbanded. The publisher also clarified that Ubisoft Montpellier still exists, and the developers who worked on The Lost Crown were moved to other projects.

"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," Abdelhak Elguess, The Lost Crown's senior producer, told Eurogamer. "Most of the team members who worked on Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown have shifted to other projects that will benefit from their expertise. We know players have a love for this brand and Ubisoft is excited to bring more Prince of Persia experiences in the future."

Elguess didn't say what projects Ubisoft moved the team to, though of the studio's announced projects, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time remake and Beyond Good and Evil 2, both of which have struggled over years of development, seem like reasonable choices.

Original story: October 22, 2024

The development team that worked on Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown may be no more, as Ubisoft reportedly disbanded it following Lost Crown’s low sales. The report comes from YouTuber Gautoz, part of the Origami media group that covers the French gaming scene, who says the Lost Crown team knew Ubisoft planned to disband them shortly after the Metroidvania first launched.

• Read more: Best Metroidvania games to play after Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown

Gautoz says Ubisoft was disappointed with The Lost Crown’s sales, which fell short of expectations, with units sold reportedly sitting in the 300,000 range. They planned to let the team release cosmetics and a few small DLC packs before moving them on to games with ‘more promising sales potential.’” Gautoz says members of the team fought to get Ubisoft to greenlight a sequel, but had no luck.

J'ai entendu ou lu "la meilleure prod' de ma vie" trois ou quatre fois en un week-end à propos du développement de PoP The Lost Crown. Tour à tour espoir d'une autre manière de créer et zone de réhabilitation pour gens crâmés par BGE2, l'équipe a été dissoute par Ubisoft. https://t.co/FFz9cfm4xj

— Gautoz (@gautoz) October 22, 2024

The irony is that some of those projects are, Gautoz says, why the Lost Crown team existed to begin with. Gautoz’s sources say work on The Lost Crown was meant to be a haven for developers who burned out working on bigger projects, including Beyond Good and Evil 2.  

• Read more: The Rise and Fall of Ubisoft
  

Bear in mind that this report is unconfirmed as of yet, and Ubisoft has issued no comment on it.

Ubisoft has faced several financial challenges since the Covid-19 pandemic, including underperforming sales for games such as Skull and Bones and Star Wars Outlaws, the latter of which, despite selling over 1 million copies, failed to meet Ubisoft’s – and investors’ – expectations. The situation has reportedly become so dire that Ubisoft may seek to go private and increase the Guillemot family’s and Tencent’s stakes in the company to appease shareholders.