New Rayman Game in 'Early Stages' of Development With Prince of Persia Team Involved, Says Ubisoft

The last mainline Rayman game, Rayman Legends, was released in 2013.

Written by Manas Mitul | Updated: 24 October 2024 13:19 IST

New Rayman Game in 'Early Stages' of Development With Prince of Persia Team Involved, Says Ubisoft

Photo Credit: Ubisoft

Rayman Legends was developed by Ubisoft Montpellier

Highlights

Ubisoft Montpellier and Ubisoft Milan are working on a new Rayman game
Ubisoft said that Prince of Persia team had been moved to other projects
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown sales fell short of expectations

Following a report that claimed Ubisoft was working on an unannounced Rayman remake, the studio confirmed that a project based on the franchise was in its early stages. The French publisher did not say if the game was a remake, as reported Wednesday, but confirmed that it had begun “an exploration phase on the Rayman brand”. The development comes after Ubisoft confirmed reports that said its team that worked on Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown had been moved to other projects at the studio.

A New Rayman Project Is in Its 'Early Stages'

Ubisoft confirmed the unnamed Rayman project in an emailed statement to Kotaku Wednesday, adding that it would share more details on the game later. “We are pleased to confirm Ubisoft Montpellier and Ubisoft Milan have recently started an exploration phase on the Rayman brand,” a Ubisoft spokesperson told Kotaku. “The project is still in its early stages, and we will share more details later.”

Ubisoft Montpellier is the developer behind Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, the action-adventure Metroidvania platformer that came out January 18. Ubisoft's Rayman confirmation followed a report that said the company's Montpellier team had been disbanded and assigned to other projects.

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Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown Team Disbanded

French independent media portal Origami reported Tuesday that The Lost Crown's sales fell short of expectations at Ubisoft, despite critical acclaim. Ubisoft Montpellier reportedly pitched a sequel to the company but was turned down.

Ubisoft partially confirmed the report to Eurogamer on Wednesday and said most of the developers at its Montpellier studio had been assigned to other projects “that would benefit from their expertise.” While the company did not elaborate its position on a sequel to The Lost Crown, it said it was “excited to bring more Prince of Persia experiences in the future.”

Gadgets 360, in its positive review of Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown earlier this year, had called the game a "ridiculously fun and surprisingly challenging" platformer that could set the tone for future Prince of Persia games.

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Ubisoft Montepellier Moved to Other Ubisoft Projects

Following Ubisoft's confirmation, Insider Gaming reported that Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown developers had been shifted to three new projects at the company — a majority of the team had reportedly moved to working on Beyond Good and Evil 2, 12 developers were now reportedly working on the next mainline Ghost Recon game, internally known as “Project Ovr,” and around a similar number of Ubisoft Montpellier employees had been assigned to a remake project of a Rayman game, dubbed “Project Steambot,” in development at Ubisoft Milan.

In its statement to Kotaku, Ubisoft also confirmed that Michel Ancel, creator of the Rayman brand, had been brought on as a consultant for the project. Ancel's involvement comes with its fair share of controversy, too. In 2020, French newspaper Libération had reported that Ancel, who at the time was working on the Beyond Good and Evil sequel, was leaving Ubisoft amid an investigation over accusations of creating a difficult work environment and bullying team members.

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Ubisoft did not confirm if the Rayman project would be a remake of an older game from the series. The last mainline Rayman game was Rayman Legends, developed by Ubisoft Montpellier and initially released in 2013 on PC, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii U and PlayStation Vita.

Rayman Legends

KEY SPECS
NEWS

Genre Platformer

Platform Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Wii U, PlayStation 3 (PS3), PlayStation 4 (PS4), PlayStation Vita (PS Vita), Stadia, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PC: Windows

Modes Single-player, Multiplayer

Series Rayman

PEGI Rating 7+

More Ubisoft Games

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown

REVIEW
KEY SPECS
NEWS

Good
Excellent world design
Fast and fun combat
Challenging platforming
Engaging boss fights
Excellent music

Bad
Tedious later section
Unbalanced difficulty spikes
Uninspired art style
Prosaic story and characters

Read detailed Ubisoft Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown review

Genre Action-Adventure

Platform Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 (PS4), PlayStation 5 (PS5), Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, PC: Windows

Modes Single-player

Series Prince of Persia

PEGI Rating 16+

More Ubisoft Games

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Further reading: Rayman, Ubisoft, Ubisoft Montpellier, Prince of Persia The Lost Crown, Prince of Persia, Rayman Legends

Manas Mitul

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In his time as a journalist, Manas Mitul has written on a wide spectrum of beats including politics, culture and sports. He enjoys reading, walking around in museums and rewatching films. Talk to Manas about football and tennis, but maybe don’t bring up his video game backlog. More