Summary
The entire video game industry is in a very turbulent place right now. While 2023 delivered some of the greatest video games of all time, it also brought with it an absurdly high number of layoffs—layoffs that have continued with full force into 2024. In just the first six weeks of 2024,6,000 video game industry employees lost their jobs. With the recent announcement that Sony is slashing its own workforce by an eye-watering 900 people, it seems like even the biggest companies are no longer safe, andUbisoftcould be next.
According to a report from Insider Gaming’s Tom Henderson at the end of last month, tensions at Ubisoft are higher than they ever have been. With over 100 Ubisoft employees losing their jobs in November 2023, higher-ups demanding studios chase trends that often result in dead-on-arrival products and general mismanagement across the board, Ubisoft is apparently at boiling point. All the while, even if sales and receptions aren’t necessarily intrinsically tied to whether a studio will sink or swim, it’s more important than ever forUbisoftto learn from its successes and failures, and there’s a lotPrince of Persia: The Lost CrownandSkull and Bonescould teach the company.
What Ubisoft Needs to Learn From Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown and Skull and Bones
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown Proves Returning to a Series' Roots Can Work
Kicking off 2024 with a bang,Prince of Persia: The Lost Crownhas become the new standard for franchise reboots. ThePrince of Persiaseries has had a pretty tumultuous history. While many fans adore the original 1989 game and2003’sPrince of Persia: The Sands of Time, just about every other entry in the series has been mediocre at best, with the last franchise entry, 2010’sThe Forgotten Sands, putting the final nail in the series' coffin.
But 14 years later,Prince of Persia: The Lost Crownhas swooped in to save the franchise from its slumber, and it’s done so in incredible style. Boasting a great art style, some thrilling boss fights, responsive combat, and some incredibly intuitiveMetroidvania level design,Prince of Persia: The Lost Crownpushes the franchise forward in some major ways while also hearkening back to the series' glory days.
One of the biggest reasons behindPrince of Persia: The Lost Crown’s critical success is that Ubisoft Montpellier—an incredibly talented studio that had already worked its magic withtheRaymanfranchise—was likely allowed a great deal of creative freedom when makingThe Lost Crown. The lesson that Ubisoft should be taking fromPrince of Persia: The Lost Crownis that giving talented studios a high level of creative control, and returning to a series' more simplistic roots, can deliver a well-polished, well-reviewed product.
However, according to the same Insider Gaming report,The Lost Crownhas failed to meet internal expectations, so Ubisoft will likely perceive this game as a loss regardless of its critical reception.
Skull and Bones Proves That Sometimes It’s Better To Cut Losses
Ubisoft’s other major release of early 2024,Skull and Bones, should act as a reminder that it’s okay for Ubisoft to cut its losses sometimes. Though it began life with an incredibly promising and original premise,Skull and Bones' infamously troubled productionled to countless delays and multiple full restarts of the game’s development cycle.
According to early reports,Skull and Bonesfailed to hit its initial 1 million player milestone, even with its eight-hour free trial. It might not be as bad as many were expecting it to be, yetSkull and Bones' gameplaysimply feels outdated.
While canceling projects mid-development is always disheartening, inSkull and Bones' case, it would have saved a lot of time, effort, and money, all of which could have been spent on more original Ubisoft titles. If that rings true with Ubisoft, too, then that’s another lesson to be learned regarding future projects.
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown
WHERE TO PLAY
Dash into a stylish and thrilling action-adventure platformer set in a mythological Persian world where the boundaries of time and space are yours to manipulate. Play as Sargon and evolve from sword-wielding prodigy to extraordinary legend as you master acrobatic combat and unlock new Time Powers and unique super abilities.UNLEASH YOUR INNER WARRIORUse your Time Powers, combat, and platforming skills to perform deadly combos and defeat time-corrupted enemies and mythological creatures.LOSE YOURSELF IN THE PRODIGIOUS MOUNT QAFDiscover a cursed Persian-inspired world filled with larger-than-life landmarks and explore a variety of highly detailed biomes, each with their own identity, wonder, and danger.LIVE AN EPIC ADVENTUREImmerse yourself in a Persian mythological fantasy through an intriguing and original story as you use your wits to solve puzzles, find hidden treasures, and complete quests to learn more about this corrupted place.
