Both Ubisoft and Netflix have effectively shuttered game studios today. Ubisoft disbanded the entire team behind the critically acclaimed Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. In the same day, fully shuttered Team Blue, their AAA game studio based in southern California.
The report on Ubisoft disbanding the Prince of Persia studio originated from French media outlet Origami. The video (translated via ResetEra) says that the team was disbanded despite the positive reception to The Lost Crown. The video suggests that the studio's fate was decided mere weeks after the release of The Lost Crown. Ubisoft reportedly shutdown the requests and efforts by the development team to get the greenlight for a sequel or even for another expansion.
Ubisoft allegedly said that they needed help on other projects that had better sales potential than a sequel to Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. Reporting says that The Lost Crown failed to meet internal sales expectations. Executives at Ubisoft feared that a sequel could cannibalize the long-term sales of the first game.
The exact fate of the team members that worked on The Lost Crown are unknown. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown was developed at Ubisoft Montpellier, a studio made up of hundreds of employees. It's possible that the team all found positions working on other games within Ubisoft, but it's not clear. One of the other titles in development at Ubisoft Montpellier is Beyond Good and Evil 2.
Meanwhile, Netflix fully shutdown their AAA game studio, Team Blue, today after a bit under two years of existence. Team Blue was the fifth internal game studio started by Netflix. They were reportedly working on a AAA-budget new IP that would be released across multiple, yet unspecified, devices.
The closure of Team Blue comes at the same time that Netflix laid off 35 employees from various divisions. It's unclear where all of the staff at Team Blue ended up, or if they're still even at Netflix. As of October 2024, Team Blue's most notable hires were no longer with the company. This includes Joseph Staten (former Bungie and 343 Industries), Rafael Grassetti (former Sony Santa Monica), and Chacko Sonny (formerly at Blizzard).
