https://www.techpowerup.com/328035/ubisoft-axes-prince-of-persia-the-lost-crown-disbands-dev-team-10-months-after-disappointing-launch The latest game to come out of the Prince of Persia series was Prince of Persia The Lost Crown, which launched in January 2024. Now, after just 10 months on the market, Ubisoft has reportedly disbanded the development team behind the project, effectively ending all future development for the game and scrapping any planned sequels and DLC that was meant to be added to the game. The news has officially been acknowledged by Ubisoft, who published and developed the Prince of Persia game, and in its response, the game studio said that most of the developers involved with The Lost Crown have already moved to "other projects that will benefit from their expertise."
Since its launch in January this year, Prince of Persia The Lost Crown has been a bit of a commercial flop, garnering a mere 1,446-player peak player count on Steam, according to SteamDB. Insider Gaming reports that The Lost Crown sold as many as 1 million units across its PS5, Xbox, and PC releases, leading Ubisoft to classify it as a commercial failure. Despite basically acknowledging that The Lost Crown wasn't profitable enough, Ubisoft seemingly wants to leave the door open for future installments in the Prince of Persia franchise, saying "We know players have a love for this brand and Ubisoft is excited to bring more Prince of Persia experiences in the future."
Industry insiders reportedly told Insider Gaming that the former Prince of Persia team was split up among three separate projects at Ubisoft Montpellier. While there is no solid evidence suggesting what other projects Ubisoft may have diverted the Prince of Persia team to, there are rumblings that they were put to work on Beyond Good and Evil 2, the next Ghost Recon game, and a Rayman remake that appears to be in the works.
Prince of Persia The Lost Crown, despite having much of the platformer spirit of the mainline Prince of Persia games, was a departure from the formula that made the AAA titles in its past hits with gaming audiences. Instead, Ubisoft spun the IP into a hybrid Metroidvania, seemingly looking to cash in on the hype of games like Dead Cells, Hollow Knight, and the Ori games. While The Lost Crown did have a successful critical and public reception, raking in an 84% positive review rating on SteamDB, it didn't quickly sell millions of copies, like Ubisoft had expected, meaning it was cut loose.
In the gaming industry you have to be successful or you'll get the axe.