Recently, the gaming community was blown away with major changes involving Ubisoft and, more importantly, the Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown team. Yesterday, word came that the development team for the game has been disbanded and a pitch for its sequel was turned down by Ubisoft barely a month after the game was released. The move does raise some eyebrows, given the timing of such an action and what it means to the game's future.
According to Insider Gaming, some of those former Prince of Persia team members moved on to a new project, which is the Rayman remake currently in development. Codenamed "Project Steambot," this new game is mainly in development by Ubisoft Milan, a studio with a rich history, having contributed to more than two dozen Ubisoft games during the last two decades. The migration of talent from one beloved franchise to another is a poignant reflection of the fluid nature of game development, wherein teams often shift focus with company strategy and project needs.
This transition has not been exactly smooth, however. The fact that Michel Ancel, creator of Rayman and also other popular franchises like Beyond Good & Evil, was merely a consultant has raised some eyebrows among team members.
Ancel's past has indeed been tarnished with quite a few controversies, particularly the "toxic leadership" allegations in 2020. This history brings its shadow over the Rayman Remake project for developers now part of this new team. However, while Ancel has one pretty influential creative vision, this luggage from his past just might complicate team dynamics and morale.
Reports suggest that as many as a dozen of the Prince of Persia team's developers have made their way onto the Rayman Remake project, while others have moved on to other high-profile games, such as Beyond Good & Evil 2 and the next Ghost Recon game. The outcome is, quite frankly, just a natural part of Ubisoft's continued efforts to reshape itself with market demand and internal project evaluations.
The future of the Prince of Persia series is up in the air, further complicated by the dissolution of its development team. These questions, along with others regarding Ubisoft's commitment to reviving this retro title, are what series fans are currently stuck pondering. On the other hand, the Rayman Remake, while sounding promising, comes with the baggage of its creator's darker past actions, which might taint its reception internally and externally. While Ubisoft undergoes such changes, the gaming community follows them with great interest. This shift in projects from Prince of Persia to Rayman is symbolic of transition in and outside of the gameworld-a call for creative leadership, bonding of teams, and juggling the act of preserving legacy franchises while giving new ideas room to breathe. The next months will indeed be critical for Ubisoft while rewriting its strategy and creating exciting experiences for its audience.