Ubisoft reportedly turned down expansion and sequel pitches by Ubisoft Montpellier for Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, before disbanding the team behind the game and assigning them to different projects.
This report comes from Gautoz, a French journalist with a track record of reporting on Ubisoft, especially Ubisoft Montpellier. A translated summary of Gautoz's 30-minute video was provided by Arubedo on ResetEra. According to Gautoz, Ubisoft quickly gave up on The Lost Crown post-release because of poor sales, despite the game being a critical success. The team's attempts to get expansions or a sequel greenlit were turned down by higher-ups at Ubisoft. The team members were then re-assigned to other projects that Ubisoft felt had higher sales potential. Ubisoft felt a sequel wouldn't sell well and releasing another game would hurt the long-term sales of the first game.
According to an Insider Gaming report in January, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown sold around 300,000 copies. The Metroidvania was widely praised by critics for its fluid platforming and challenging combat, holding an average critic score of 87 on OpenCritic. Our own 4/5 review of The Lost Crown called it "one of the best entries...