Ubisoft has reacted in a very drastic way to the results of the game, while the health of the company is still not very good…
At the beginning of 2024, the French publisher had a successful year with Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, as the reviews were good enough… but the sales were not! In a YouTube video, Gautoz spoke with several people from the French publisher’s studio in Montpellier, and they all said that sales had failed, so there would be no sequel, as the development team had essentially been disbanded by Yves Guillemot!
“You have to understand that internally the writing was on the wall a few weeks after the game launched at the beginning of the year. By spring, it was pretty clear – just a couple of patches, one DLC, and that was it. The more optimistic people on the core team kept pitching a sequel project, but then it turned into a battle to get the green light for two DLCs, hoping to change the bosses’ minds. But it was obvious that the decision had been made quickly, especially with the need for help on other projects with better sales potential.
Ubisoft usually has a sales curve like a blockbuster launch, but this time it started lower than expected. I’ve heard a justification that honestly drives me crazy as a gamer: if you let them make another one, it’ll eat into the long-term sales of this one. I’ve always thought the opposite, that if you do well with the first one, you can actually increase sales. The production of Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown wasn’t really a problem, far from it. For example, there was a crunch, but we’re talking about a production with a really strong collective spirit, which is quite different from the way Ubisoft usually makes games with 80 to 100 people full on development, which is pretty small in comparison.
It’s a classic big Ubisoft project, but it was a blessing to try different organizational models. Some teams, like the gameplay team, were set up almost horizontally with a lot of listening and consultation. People really felt like they had a say in the direction of the project. Also, it’s worth mentioning that the Prince of Persia team often had people who were burned out from spending too much time on Beyond Good and Evil 2. Somewhere along the way, it also helped some people get back on their feet after hard times in their careers. So these days, the big office reorganization at Ubisoft Montpellier is kind of wiping away the last vestiges of that team,” Gautoz said.
Still, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown was one of Ubisoft’s most successful titles in recent memory. Now the company is looking to improve sales, which have been poor for Star Wars Outlaws. Assassin’s Creed Shadows has also been delayed…
Source: WCCFTech
