Ubisoft’s Dangerous Position Continues as Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown Sequel Axed – What Does This Mean for the Franchise?
The Lost Crown brought Prince of Persia back from a deep slumber, but Ubisoft isn't interested in any follow-ups to the 2024 title.
- Prince of Persia had not seen a mainline installment in nearly 14 years before The Lost Crown made its entrance.
- Although the game received quite a positive reception from players, it did not manage to reach the sales target.
- Consequently, Ubisoft does not want to greenlight any additional content, regardless of whether it's another expansion or a sequel.
There was a time when Prince of Persia used to be a household name in the realm of video games, helping Ubisoft garner a great reputation among its competitors with an IP that came with a lot of potential. However, it had been a very long time since the developer and publisher did anything worthwhile with the franchise, but thankfully, the curse seemed to have been broken earlier this year with The Lost Crown.
Being the first mainline installment in nearly 14 years, the action-adventure title was met with quite the positive reception from the fanbase despite switching up the formula that made the series so iconic in the first place, but unfortunately, the franchise has hit yet another roadblock just a few months after its grand comeback.
Ubisoft Has Canceled Its Prince of Persia Revival During a Troubling Era
Despite being one of the most anticipated video games to be released in 2024, The Lost Crown was unable to reach the sales target that Ubisoft hoped for, putting the fate of the franchise in an even more uncertain position than it was during the 14-year-long wait after The Forgotten Sands.
But yesterday, the greatest fear of fans who may have liked the new direction that the series seemed to have been taking started to become a reality as it was reported that Ubisoft does not want its Montpellier team to continue working on anything related to the January 2024 title. That means that any sort of expansion, DLC, or sequel is off the table, although the development team presented several pitches that were outright rejected.
Although The Lost Crown was by no means a bad game, especially considering how Ubisoft has been fumbling with many of its other titles that have come after it, it turns out that even an estimated one million units sold was not enough for the publisher to consider a future for it.
The Publisher Clarifies the Report Regarding the Game and the Team’s Fate
After the report started circulating online, it did not take long for Ubisoft to officially address the situation, as it was quite important for the publisher to provide more clarity on the fate of its Montpellier studio and the developers that worked on the franchise revival.
The publisher clarified that the development team behind the game is still intact, but it is working on “other projects that will benefit from their expertise.”
Abdelhak Elguess, the senior producer behind the 2024 title, stated that the game has reached “the end of its Post-Launch roadmap with three free content updates and one DLC released in September,” continuing that the aim is to increase The Lost Crown’s player base by launching it on Steam and Mac.
Although the producer did mention that the company does not want to abandon the franchise entirely and will release more titles based on the IP, it remains to be seen what part the publisher’s current woes play in its future.
But for now, fans can take solace in knowing that at least the remake of The Sands of Time is in active development and will hopefully be launched in a couple of years.
