Update, October 23: Ubisoft provided the following comment from senior producer Abdelhak Elguess.
"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. We are now focusing on making the game available to more players: it was recently launched on Steam, and will be available on Mac by this winter. 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."
Original story, October 22: The team at Ubisoft Montpellier that brought us Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown has reportedly been disbanded after the excellent Metroidvania revival of the venerable series didn't meet the company's internal expectations.
This report comes via respected French YouTuber Gautoz, citing word from multiple devs within Ubisoft Montpellier. The French-language breakdown has been translated and summarized by ResetEra user Arubedo, noting that The Lost Crown didn't meet internal sales expectations, so Ubisoft wanted these devs working on other games with "better sales potential."
The report also indicates that several members of the team were fighting to get a Lost Crown sequel greenlit, but Ubisoft higher-ups said no - in part citing fears that a sequel would negatively impact back catalog sales of the first game.
We've reached out to Ubisoft for confirmation and will provide an update when we learn more.
There's no indication of what this means for the broader studio of Ubisoft Montpellier. The outfit has been around since 1994, and has spent the entire time putting out some of Ubisoft's best - and most creative - underappreciated bangers. You've got the colorful platformer Rayman and its bigger sequel - arguably one of the greatest 3D platformers ever made - Rayman 2. They made the weirdly ambitious adaptation of Peter Jackson's King Kong, and the early Xbox 360 highlight Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter.
Ubisoft Montpellier also made smaller scale cult classics like ZombiU and the gorgeous Valiant Hearts: The Great War, as well as the incredible 2D platformer revivals of Rayman Origins and Rayman Legends. And perhaps most notably, this is also the studio behind the beloved action adventure title Beyond Good & Evil, as well as the long-awaited sequel. As fans continue to wonder whether Beyond Good & Evil 2 is ever actually going to come out, any news of tumult within the studio stings plenty.
But it's clear that Ubisoft as a whole is feeling a little nervous right now. Softer than expected sales of Star Wars Outlaws have led to a delay for Assassin's Creed Shadows and a big stock drop for the company that's reportedly had the owners considering a full buyout to take Ubisoft private. Whatever the future holds for all those upcoming Ubisoft games remains to be seen.
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