Yelzkizi Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown Team Reportedly Freed From Ubisoft “Support Studio Prison” and Pitching New Games Again

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown became one of Ubisoft’s most acclaimed 2024 releases, then almost immediately became a symbol of the company’s harsher commercial logic. The story now driving search interest “Team behind Ubisoft’s best game in years reportedly freed from support studio prison and allowed to pitch its own games again” comes from a fresh April 2026 rumor tied to French journalist Gauthier “Gautoz” Andres, not from a formal Ubisoft announcement, so the most accurate read is hopeful but cautious: something may have reopened internally, but nothing has been officially greenlit yet.

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown team reunited rumor explained

The current rumor says the core creative team behind Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown has been allowed to regroup and pitch new game ideas to Ubisoft. Multiple outlets stressed that this is still rumor territory rather than a confirmed production move, and one report said the underlying Bluesky post was later deleted, which is another reason to treat the story as unconfirmed until Ubisoft says more publicly.

Yelzkizi prince of persia: the lost crown team reportedly freed from ubisoft “support studio prison” and pitching new games again
Yelzkizi prince of persia: the lost crown team reportedly freed from ubisoft “support studio prison” and pitching new games again

What “support studio prison” means inside Ubisoft

“Support studio prison” is not an official Ubisoft phrase. It is a blunt, editorial way of describing what happens when a team that has proven it can lead a strong game is reassigned to support or co-develop larger existing projects instead of being allowed to keep steering its own follow-up. Reporting on The Lost Crown said most of its team was redistributed to Beyond Good and Evil 2, the next Ghost Recon, and a Rayman remake, while Ubisoft Montpellier’s own studio page highlights that it also does co-development and cinematic support on other Ubisoft productions.

Why Ubisoft Montpellier was shifted to other projects after The Lost Crown

The short answer is that Ubisoft appears to have judged The Lost Crown by internal sales expectations rather than by reviews alone. Ubisoft publicly said the game had reached the end of its post-launch roadmap and that most team members had shifted to other projects, while Insider Gaming reported that management had already decided to move away from a sequel path because the game missed internal targets. That combination roadmap complete, sales below internal hopes, team redeployed is what led to the breakup.

Did Ubisoft cancel a Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown sequel pitch?

Reportedly yes, but not through a direct public Ubisoft announcement using those exact words. Insider Gaming said any potential sequel was passed on after the game missed internal expectations, and VGC summarized Gautoz’s reporting by saying lower-than-expected early sales effectively ended sequel chances very early. The important nuance is that Ubisoft itself confirmed staff movement, not a sequel cancellation memo. The sequel story comes from reporting, not an official press release.

Yelzkizi prince of persia: the lost crown team reportedly freed from ubisoft “support studio prison” and pitching new games again
Yelzkizi prince of persia: the lost crown team reportedly freed from ubisoft “support studio prison” and pitching new games again

Who is Gautoz (Gauthier Andres) and why his report matters

Gauthier Andres, widely known as Gautoz, is a journalist at and co-founder of the independent French outlet Origami. His reporting matters here because he is not a random social-media poster; he is part of a specialized games publication, and his name was already attached to 2024 reporting around The Lost Crown team situation before this new April 2026 rumor surfaced. That continuity gives the rumor more weight than a generic leak, even if it still remains unconfirmed.

Origami report on Ubisoft Montpellier regrouping and pitching new ideas

The so-called Origami report is best understood as an Origami-linked Gautoz report rather than a full Ubisoft disclosure. The English-language retellings say the core team has been given permission to regroup and pitch game ideas, and additional reporting says “core team” refers to a relatively small group of lead creatives rather than the entire old production staff. That suggests a very early-stage incubation phase, not full development on a finished pitch.

Ubisoft’s official statement on The Lost Crown team moving to other projects

Ubisoft’s clearest public stance came from senior producer Abdelhak Elguess in October 2024. He said Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown had reached the end of its post-launch roadmap, that the company was focusing on making the game available to more players, and that most of the team members had shifted to other projects that would benefit from their expertise. He also said Ubisoft knew players loved the brand and remained excited to bring more Prince of Persia experiences in the future, which kept the IP alive even as this specific team was split apart.

Yelzkizi prince of persia: the lost crown team reportedly freed from ubisoft “support studio prison” and pitching new games again
Yelzkizi prince of persia: the lost crown team reportedly freed from ubisoft “support studio prison” and pitching new games again

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown post-launch roadmap and DLC recap

Ubisoft’s 2024 roadmap promised three free updates and one paid story expansion. Warrior’s Path added speedrun and permadeath modes plus new outfits on March 20; Boss Attack added a boss-rush style challenge; Divine Trials brought new combat, platforming, and puzzle challenges as well as new amulets and cosmetics; and the paid Mask of Darkness DLC launched on September 17, 2024 with a Radjen-focused story chapter set in her Mind Palace, alongside four new biomes, new enemies, and three bosses.

How did Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown sell compared to its reviews?

The contrast is the heart of the whole story. Critically, The Lost Crown performed extremely well: Metacritic lists an 86 Metascore on PS5 based on 83 critic reviews, and OpenCritic lists an 87 top critic average with a 96% recommendation rate. Commercially, reporting said the game had sold about one million units by October 2024 and 1.3 million units in its first year, while later Ubisoft-announced milestones put it at over 2 million players and then 3 million players. Those later player counts show the game kept finding an audience, but they are not the same thing as early unit sales meeting Ubisoft’s internal expectations.

Will Ubisoft greenlight a new Prince of Persia game in 2026?

As of mid-April 2026, there is no public confirmation that Ubisoft has greenlit a new Prince of Persia game. What is confirmed is that Ubisoft canceled Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake in January 2026 while explicitly saying it was not stepping away from the franchise, and what is rumored is that the Lost Crown core team may once again be allowed to pitch ideas internally. That means the franchise is not dead, but a new approval has not been publicly locked in either.

Yelzkizi prince of persia: the lost crown team reportedly freed from ubisoft “support studio prison” and pitching new games again
Yelzkizi prince of persia: the lost crown team reportedly freed from ubisoft “support studio prison” and pitching new games again

What games could Ubisoft Montpellier pitch next?

No outside report has named a specific game. The most grounded inference is that Ubisoft Montpellier could pitch either a Lost Crown follow-up, another Prince of Persia concept, or a different action-platforming project altogether, because the leak only mentions “game ideas,” and additional rumor coverage says the future project would not necessarily be Prince of Persia. Ubisoft’s own studio materials also show why Montpellier would be a sensible place for that kind of pitch: it has Rayman roots, it led The Lost Crown, and it continues to work on Beyond Good and Evil 2 and co-development with strong cinematic expertise.

Prince of Persia franchise future after The Lost Crown news

The franchise’s near future looks uneven, but not finished. The Lost Crown kept growing its player base after launch, Ubisoft’s official statement on Sands of Time said the Prince of Persia universe still matters, and the new rumor suggests the company may be willing to hear fresh pitches from the team most recently associated with the brand’s modern revival. That is a mixed picture, but it is not the picture of a dead franchise.

Prince of Persia: Sands of Time remake latest status and timeline

The latest status is clear: canceled. Ubisoft Forward in June 2024 said Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time had entered full production and was targeting a 2026 launch, but Ubisoft’s January 30, 2026 official statement said development had been stopped because the project could not reach the required quality level without more time and investment than Ubisoft was prepared to commit. Any article still presenting the remake as a live 2026 release should now be treated as outdated.

Yelzkizi prince of persia: the lost crown team reportedly freed from ubisoft “support studio prison” and pitching new games again
Yelzkizi prince of persia: the lost crown team reportedly freed from ubisoft “support studio prison” and pitching new games again

Why fans call The Lost Crown “Ubisoft’s best game in years”

That label comes from a rare convergence of strengths: polished traversal and combat, standout level design, unusually thoughtful accessibility features, and awards recognition that backed up the review scores. Metacritic and OpenCritic place the game firmly in the top tier of 2024 reviews, while Ubisoft’s own Pégases recap says The Lost Crown won Best Game Design, Best Accessibility, Best Sound Design, and Best Game of the Year in France. Recent headlines from major outlets also casually refer to it as one of Ubisoft’s best games in years, which shows how widely that perception has spread.

What fans want from a Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown sequel

The most grounded answer is that players seem to want continuity, not reinvention. Based on what critics and awards coverage repeatedly highlighted, the ideal sequel would keep the fluid combat, demanding platforming, and intricate map design, while improving story pay-off and giving the same core team room to build on the formula they already proved works. That is partly inference, but it is a well-supported inference from the specific design elements that reviews and awards kept celebrating, and from the disappointment that followed reports of the sequel path being shut down.

Yelzkizi prince of persia: the lost crown team reportedly freed from ubisoft “support studio prison” and pitching new games again
Yelzkizi prince of persia: the lost crown team reportedly freed from ubisoft “support studio prison” and pitching new games again

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

  1. Is Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown getting a sequel? Not officially. Reporting in 2024 said a sequel path was rejected, while the April 2026 rumor only says the core team may be allowed to pitch ideas again. A pitch is not the same thing as a greenlit sequel.
  2. Did Ubisoft disband the Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown team? Ubisoft publicly said most of the team members shifted to other projects after the game reached the end of its post-launch roadmap, which is the practical reason people describe the team as disbanded.
  3. Which projects were The Lost Crown developers moved to? Insider Gaming reported that most of the team moved to Beyond Good and Evil 2, with smaller groups going to the next Ghost Recon and a Rayman remake at Ubisoft Milan.
  4. Is the reunited Lost Crown team rumor officially confirmed by Ubisoft? No. The current story comes from Gautoz-linked reporting and secondary coverage, not from an official Ubisoft announcement.
  5. Did Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown flop? Not in the critical sense. It reviewed very well and later reached multi-million player milestones, but reporting says it still failed to hit Ubisoft’s internal sales expectations.
  6. What was in the Mask of Darkness DLC? Mask of Darkness added a new story chapter centered on Radjen and her Mind Palace, plus four new biomes, new enemies, and three bosses.
  7. Why was Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake canceled? Ubisoft said the project had real potential, but the team could not reach the quality level fans deserved without more time and investment than Ubisoft could responsibly commit.
  8. Is Ubisoft done with Prince of Persia? Officially, no. Ubisoft’s January 2026 statement explicitly said it was not stepping away from the franchise.
  9. Why is The Lost Crown still so highly regarded? Because the game combined strong review scores, standout game design, accessibility recognition, and major awards wins, including four Pégases.
  10. What does “core team” mean in the new rumor? Additional rumor coverage says it refers to the main creatives who led The Lost Crown from the start, not the full original production staff.
Yelzkizi prince of persia: the lost crown team reportedly freed from ubisoft “support studio prison” and pitching new games again
Yelzkizi prince of persia: the lost crown team reportedly freed from ubisoft “support studio prison” and pitching new games again

conclusion

The most accurate way to understand the Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown situation is as a clash between acclaim and corporate expectations. Ubisoft Montpellier made a critically successful, award-winning Prince of Persia game; reporting says Ubisoft wanted bigger, faster commercial returns; the team was dispersed after the roadmap ended; the sequel path was reportedly closed; and now, in April 2026, a new rumor suggests at least part of that core team may be getting another chance to pitch. For Prince of Persia fans, that is not a victory yet, but it is the first genuinely hopeful signal in a while.

sources and citation

  1. Ubisoft — Official statement
    https://www.ubisoft.com/en-gb/news/ignt.57946/official-statement
  2. Ubisoft News — Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown Unveils New Post-Launch Content
    https://news.ubisoft.com/en-us/article/775niEg1O3MJ9AUF3N1wNJ/prince-of-persia-the-lost-crown-unveils-new-postlaunch-content
  3. Ubisoft News — Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown Mask of Darkness DLC Out Now
    https://news.ubisoft.com/en-gb/article/nrQzJW8HhE2XSTZE32ziS/prince-of-persia-the-lost-crown-mask-of-darkness-dlc-out-now
  4. Ubisoft News — Three Prince of Persia Games Drop New Content and Details During Ubisoft Forward
    https://news.ubisoft.com/en-us/article/6vUaPXscA0o1hzebwa5xcW/three-prince-of-persia-games-drop-new-content-and-details-during-ubisoft-forward
  5. GameSpot — Most Of Prince Of Persia: The Lost Crown “Shifted To Other Projects”
    https://www.gamespot.com/articles/most-of-prince-of-persia-the-lost-crown-team-shifted-to-other-projects/1100-6527334/
  6. Insider Gaming — Prince of Persia Devs Move to Three New Projects at Ubisoft
    https://insider-gaming.com/prince-of-persia-three-new-projects/
  7. Insider Gaming — Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown Sold 1.3 Million Units in Its First Year
    https://insider-gaming.com/prince-of-persia-the-lost-crown-sales/
  8. Metacritic — Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown reviews
    https://www.metacritic.com/game/prince-of-persia-the-lost-crown/
  9. OpenCritic — Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown rating page
    https://opencritic.com/game/15867/prince-of-persia-the-lost-crown
  10. Origami — outlet page
    https://www.origami.ng/
  11. Origami — Gauthier Andres author page
    https://www.origami.ng/author/gauthier/
  12. GamesRadar+ — April 2026 rumor coverage
    https://www.gamesradar.com/games/ubisofts-prince-of-persia-the-lost-crown-team-reportedly-freed-from-support-studio-prison-and-allowed-to-pitch-its-own-games-again/
  13. Push Square — additional rumor context
    https://www.pushsquare.com/news/2026/04/rumour-ubisoft-to-give-prince-of-persia-the-lost-crowns-core-dev-team-another-chance
  14. Gamereactor — additional rumor context
    https://www.gamereactor.eu/prince-of-persia-the-lost-crown-development-team-reportedly-reunites-set-to-pitch-new-ideas-to-ubisoft-1706663/
  15. Ubisoft News — Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown wins four “Pégase” awards
    https://news.ubisoft.com/en-us/article/1IMS1RtZ5UBlQlGzNZtn4L/prince-of-persia-the-lost-crown-wins-four-pgase-awards
  16. Ubisoft Montpellier — studio page
    https://www.ubisoft.com/en-us/studio/montpellier
  17. Ubisoft Montpellier — Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown page
    https://www.ubisoft.com/en-us/studio/montpellier/news/4wSH6aL9s7phgM62Mniwg2/prince-of-persia-the-lost-crown-reinventing-prince-of-persia
  18. Ubisoft — Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown game page
    https://www.ubisoft.com/en-gb/game/prince-of-persia/the-lost-crown

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