Many are still stunned by the reveal that Ubisoft has disbanded the team behind Prince of Persia The Lost Crown. The game was released in January and reportedly sold over a million units, which would be a “great success” to most companies. However, Ubisoft felt that it “missed expectations” and not only got rid of the team but made clear that the title wouldn’t get a sequel or any additional content. Needless to say, many saw this as another sign of the “downfall” of the publisher, as they keep shooting themselves in the foot for no real reason. It’s not just fans thinking this, though.
Enter Michael Douse, the head of publishing for Larian Studios. After the announcement of the team’s disbanding went out, he took to Twitter to make his feelings on the matter heard, and he didn’t hold back on how stupid Ubisoft was for letting this game “not meeting expectations.” He truly felt it was Ubisoft’s fault and not the game itself, and for simple reasons:
It’s true, the game wasn’t on Steam initially. You can get it there now, and it has a “Very Positive” rating by those who viewed it, but that came out on the platform in August. Some argued with Douse that a simultaneous launch wouldn’t have “helped things,” but he didn’t budge on his position, and it’s easy to see why. Numerous gamers have Stea and not Ubisoft’s subscription platform where the title was initially released. Thus, at the peak of the game’s potential popularity, if it had been on Steam, many would’ve likely gotten it to see what it was like. Even with all the other AAA titles released in that period, which some also felt was a reason for the game “not meeting expectations,” the sales would have grown through Steam.
Douse would say in a later tweet:
“If the statement “gamers should get used to not owning their games” is true because of a specific release strategy (sub above sales), then the statement “developers must get used to not having jobs if they make a critically acclaimed game” (platform strategy above title sales) is also true, and that just isn’t sensible — even from a business perspective.”
Prince of Persia The Lost Crown is, quite ironically, the best-reviewed Ubisoft title of 2024 by a large margin. Yet, it’s the one that gets the biggest blow, and Ubisoft is truly to blame. Oh, and let’s not forget that they have people working on another entry in this franchise, but it’s been delayed for years. So, yeah, they’re not the best at getting stuff done.
