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[LakeOf9]

In early January, Ubisoft released one of its highest-rated Metacritic games in the past decade, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. The game hit a height of 88 (Nintendo Switch) with its critic score and a 9.1 user score, leading many to believe that the game could already be in the running for several Game of the Year awards. Despite the impressive scores though, the game has around 300,000 players at the time of writing (estimated $15m in revenue).

Everyone complains about Ubisoft only doing bloated open world garbage and then Ubisoft actually makes a game that’s different, and is awesome, and is well reviewed, and is not full price, and it bombs

We deserve the trash we get

Inside Ubisoft - From Low Morale To Internal Tensions

From Low Morale To Internal Tensions, let's take a look behind the curtain at Ubisoft, one of the world's biggest gaming companies.

insider-gaming.com

 

[Alebrije]

UBI's legacy it's hard to ignore...so their good games pay the price.

 

[ByWatterson]

Played the demo. It was fine, but the art style is extremely ugly. Fortnite-y, clay looking characters. Can't play it more.

 

[kazuyamishima]

I don't think they spent too much in making the game.

Sales will pick up again when they decrease the price like they always do.

 

[Duchess]

It's on my list of game to play, but rather far down. In fact, I doubt I'll get to it before 2025.

 

[Mr Hyde]

It looks cool and I love Metroidvanias but there is just too much to play now so gonna have to pick it up at a later date. It would be a shame to see it bomb though and discourage Ubi to try new things. They can produce good shit occasionally.

 

[NeonDelta]

It’s Ubisoft. It will be 60 percent off in a month

 

[TGO]

It's a £15 game going for £44.99 what do they expect.
Plus the POP:SOT Remake trophies just reappeared on the backend of PSN so once that gets reannounced and released no one will remember this one anyway.

 

[Deerock71]

300,000 for this game sounds good to me. This is even MID-TIER AA game budget, tops.

 

[MagnesD3]

I mean Ubisoft is kinda hated now by most hardcore crowd of gamers and its not like they support or heavily promote Prince of Persia as a franchise. I doubt anyone is surprised even if its quality.

 

[SJRB]

Surely no one expected this to sell millions of copies, right?

They made a good game on a decent budget for a relatively small target audience. It was a success by every metric.

 

[Gamezone]

Release it on Steam.

 

[T4keD0wN]

I am more surprised by those Avatar numbers, 1.9m is not great for such a massively popular franchise, sad about Prince of Persia, it was a blast all the way.

On the other hand theyve just came out and maybe the sales will pick up a bit with updates/dlcs and sales, ubisoft does those a lot.

 

[thuGG_pl]

Not on Steam sadly, still I bouth on Epic, but Steam would increase the numbers i think.
Also the price is a bit steep for a "simple 2d platformer".

 

[MiguelItUp]

Well that's a shame. It was some of the best platforming and puzzling I've experienced in a long while. Especially in a metroidvania. Game absolutely should've launched on Steam.

 

[engstra]

The game is not full price?

I love metroidvanias and PoP but the asking price is really steep for this type of game.

 

[March Climber]

Surely no one expected this to sell millions of copies, right?

Definitely not on launch, with the price it's currently at. This will be one of those launch failures/lifetime success stories in gaming.

 

[SmokedMeat]

Paging sloppyjoe_gamer and ManaByte

I called it.

I’d say so.

If a major publisher is announcing a Play it for Free promo before release, it tells me they’re expecting it to bomb.

Doesn’t mean it’s not a good game. They just don’t have confidence that it’s going to sell.

Ubi doesn’t do free demos unless they’re afraid it’s not going to sell well.

 

[Gambit2483]

How much Cred does the POP brand have in 2024? Also, this new gen of gamers seem to think 2D games aren't worth full price unless it's Mario or something

 

[Fake]

I guess people are expecting a proper Prince of Persia release, whatever this game is good or not.

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

It is assumed that the use of Ubiart would have good graphics... But even that cannot be done well by Ubisoft... Having a good engine, they did not achieve the graphics of Valiant hearts.

 

[ShaiKhulud1989]

For it’s scale PoP did fine.

Avatar, tho, is another proof that the franchise is a phenomenon. Always breaking box-office records and absolutely non-relevant outside of a movie theater.

 

[simpatico]

That price is a hard sell for what is basically a licensed game. I would be happy to spend $50 on a big budget MetroidVania, but this doesn't feel any bigger than Strider 2014. Hell it looks maybe even worse graphically than Strider 2014. I'd take pixels and sprites over the smooth XBLA look that the game has.

I was hoping it did well to encourage other people to invest in the genre, but tbh we're better off with indies. Nothing good comes out of committees and boardrooms.

 

[cormack12]

It released at a terrible time. Its a really good game though. I think it would have benefitted from a lower introductory price, then going to full price later. I plan to get it eventually.

I think games at the moment all want that instant engagement from a f2p/GaaS or front loaded sales. Give it time to breathe, the quality is there and it will sell over time. Its been out for like two weeks.

But the game industry needs to wake up. On the one hand they are pushing games we never finish or are on the seasonal treadmill or they are making bloated single player like the 140 hour Valhalla. We have limited time. Could see this coming a mile off.

 

[Flabagast]

I did my part,

Game is excellent

 

[Feel Like I'm On 42]

I don't think they spent too much in making the game.

Sales will pick up again when they decrease the price like they always do.

If this was $40 I would've bought it in a heartbeat.

 

[SmokedMeat]

Not on Steam sadly, still I bouth on Epic, but Steam would increase the numbers i think.
Also the price is a bit steep for a "simple 2d platformer".

Ubi stopped launching on Steam because everyone buys it on Steam, while ignoring Uplay.
They’d rather have 100% of way less sales.

 

[xrnzaaas]

Metroidvanias don't cost (almost) full price unless they're Metroid. I think 300k copies/players is still a good result, it's gonna really pick up when it's at half price.

 

[Success]

This seems like a very good game without a gimmick.

To sell in 2024 you need to have some kind of gimmick.

 

[SlimySnake]

It's 2024. no one wants to play 2d games from the 50s.

 

[Vlodril]

Ubisoft stop making the same game. Ubisoft tries something different. It fails. It happens alot to them despite the quality of their efforts. People want what people want i guess and that is the open world cinematic games they do despite being checklist games.

 

[Chuck Berry]

They fucked themselves with that laughable $50 price tag for one

 

[jshackles]

Game is good, but in my opinion wasn't worth full price. I think a lot of people are more sensible than me and held off. I'd be happy with my purchase if it was $30, maybe $40.

 

[Pancakes and Sausage]

I didn’t mind the demo but this is not the Prince of Persia that I want. I want a Sands of Time style game

 

[Beer Baelly]

It released at a terrible time. Its a really good game though. I think it would have benefitted from a lower introductory price, then going to full price later. I plan to get it eventually.

I think games at the moment all want that instant engagement from a f2p/GaaS or front loaded sales. Give it time to breathe, the quality is there and it will sell over time. Its been out for like two weeks.

But the game industry needs to wake up. On the one hand they are pushing games we never finish or are on the seasonal treadmill or they are making bloated single player like the 140 hour Valhalla. We have limited time. Could see this coming a mile off.

Released at a terrible time? Sure everybody and their mother is playing Palword right now but nobody saw that coming and there weren't any other big releases. Fact is, 2D games don't sell that much. Except for Mario.

 

[StueyDuck]

It feels like if it wasn't prince of Persia it would maybe do better (or meet expectations).

I don't think this is what people wanted for this IP.

 

[ReBurn]

People have learned to not buy Ubisoft games day 1 because they're always discounted within a month or two. They should have just released at $30.

 

[VulcanRaven]

What happened to this?

 

[Kacho]

Put it on Steam, tards

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

Metroidvanias don't cost (almost) full price unless they're Metroid. I think 300k copies/players is still a good result, it's gonna really pick up when it's at half price.

Metroid Dread is a exception case.

 

[cormack12]

Released at a terrible time? Sure everybody and their mother is playing Palword right now but nobody saw that coming and there weren't any other big releases. Fact is, 2D games don't sell that much. Except for Mario.

Not necessarily that horror bag, but people have got a lot of big games going on already as well as some in the play pile. We're about to drop rebirth, mario and Donkey kong, persona 3, tomb raider remastered and still have LaD etc.

I'm not saying it would have moved the needle to 1 million or anything but if it launched in a better window it might have had a chance to hit 500,000 imo

 

[swaffles23]

50 bucks was a hard sell for me plus Ubisoft games go on sell quick

 

[BouncyFrag]

Played the demo. It was fine, but the art style is extremely ugly. Fortnite-y, clay looking characters. Can't play it more.

I had the same experience.

 

[Bullets-hurt]

The game is in the top 3 metroidvanias I've ever played and probably has the best combat system. The story quality surprised me and I'm loving it. Too many people sleeping on this game but ubisoft recent reputation not helping.

 

[SJRB]

If this was $40 I would've bought it in a heartbeat.

Wait they’re asking 60 for this? No way.

Fucking Ubisoft…

Edit: and it’s not on Steam? For fucks sake

 

[Stamps1646]

It's missing from Steam or GoG, the only two PC stores I purchase from.

 

[Flabagast]

The game is in the top 3 metroidvanias I've ever played and probably has the best combat system. The story quality surprised me and I'm loving it. Too many people sleeping on this game but ubisoft recent reputation not helping.

Boss in this game might be the best Metroidvania bosses I have encountered.

King Darius, Varham and Menolias fights especially are truly sublime in the hardest difficulty.

 

[GHG]

Costs far too much for what it is and isn't on Steam.

What did they expect?

 

[Killer8]

If this needed millions of sales to recoup costs then the industry really does need to sink into the ocean.

 

[drotahorror]

Paging sloppyjoe_gamer and ManaByte

I called it.



Ubi doesn’t do free demos unless they’re afraid it’s not going to sell well.

Still a shit take. Demo is marketing. Doesn’t mean they think the game is going to bomb. Dumbest shit I’ve read on here in a while.