Ubisoft has disbanded the team behind Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown

Ubisoft has disbanded the crew behind the recently-released platformer Prince of Persia: The Misplaced Crown, according to a reputable French journalist. The alleged purpose for disbanding the crew is a straightforward one. The sport didn’t meet gross sales expectations and Ubisoft “wanted extra palms to assist on different initiatives that had a greater gross sales potential.” That is in line with a translation published on Reset Era.

“A lot of the crew members who labored on Prince of Persia: The Misplaced Crown have shifted to different initiatives that may profit from their experience,” Abdelhak Elguess, a senior producer on the sport, told Eurogamer.

Prince of Persia: The Misplaced Crown bought round 300,000 copies throughout its first few weeks of availability, totaling $15 million in income, as indicated by a report by Insider Gaming. These gross sales figures allegedly “sealed the destiny” of the sport and its dev crew. Ubisoft staffers reportedly pushed larger ups for a sequel, or extra DLC, however had been allegedly denied.

Oddly, the corporate’s executives reportedly refused to greenlight a sequel on the grounds that it might cannibalize gross sales of the unique. I’m undecided that’s how sequels work, particularly after they come out years after the primary recreation, however no matter.

That is unhappy for quite a few causes. To begin with, the sport was nice. The Metacritic aggregate review score sits at 86, whereas person critiques hover at round 8.5 out of ten. I performed it and located it to be a incredible Metroidvania that might simply sit subsequent to a few of the classics of the style, like Hole Knight and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night time.

It’s additionally a bummer as a result of avid gamers always complain that Ubisoft doesn’t attempt something new, as an alternative counting on iterative enhancements of its core franchises or making use of tried-and-true gameplay mechanics to pre-existing IPs. Prince of Persia: The Misplaced Crown is a retro-style throwback, certain, nevertheless it’s not one other lifeless open world map full of fetch quests and stealth missions.

By all accounts, it additionally appears to have been a optimistic growth expertise. The French journalist who broke this story, Gautoz, stated he heard from a number of staff that it was the most effective recreation manufacturing expertise of their lives. It was seen as a “beacon of hope” for “people who had been burnt out by” the infinite growth cycle of Beyond Good and Evil 2.

Why did it underperform? There’s no exhausting knowledge, however this was a 2D sidescroller that price a whopping $60. That could possibly be one purpose. Solely Nintendo can get away with charging full price for retro-style titles.

It’s additionally value noting that this was simply certainly one of two sidescrolling Prince of Persia video games to launch this yr, which might have injected some confusion into the market. Evil Empire, the crew behind Useless Cells, additionally soft-launched The Rogue Prince of Persia back in May as an early access title. This can be a roguelite spin on the standard franchise video games.