The Unity Awards winners are in. We are, of course, talking about the Unity game engine and its developers annual awards, which were announced last night. But it was a bittersweet moment for one of the winners.
Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown by Ubisoft Montpellier won the best 3D Visuals Award. But the news came just a day after it emerged that Ubisoft has reportedly disbanded the team that worked on the game.
At the 16th Unity Awards, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown saw off competition from Moon Studios' No Rest for the Wicked, sunset visitor and Fellow Traveller's 1000xRESIST, Slow Bros' delightful Harold Halibut, Bandai Namco's THE IDOLM@STER Gakuen, ProjectPegasus's Tensei, Netmarble's Solo Leveling: ARISE and Second Drive's Ares: Rise of Guardians to scoop the Best 3D Visuals Award.
But the accolade came shortly after the French YouTuber Gautoz published a video in which he said developers had told him the team behind the game had been disbanded due to Ubisoft's disappointment with the game's financial performance. Ubisoft execs also reportedly declined to give the OK for a sequel to The Lost Crown, owing to a fear that it could impact sales of the existing game.
According to the Spanish YouTuber Pablo Gonzalez, the team members weren't fired but were reassigned to work on other projects. Insider Gaming says some of them have been assigned to assist with the development of the Rayman Remake. Either way, the now unknown fate of the Prince of Persia franchise casts something of a cloud over a well-earned award.
Meanwhile, other winners at the Unity Awards 2024 include Hollow Knight: Silksong by Team Cherry for Most Anticipated Game, Cat Garden by DAERI SOFT for Best 2D Visuals, Party Animals by Recreate Games for Best Multiplayer Game, and Assassin's Creed Nexus VR by Red Storm Entertainment and Ubisoft for best VR.
The award for Best Desktop/Console game went to Nintendo's Super Mario RPG, and the Best Mobile Game award went to Hello Kitty Island Adventure by Sunblink. For the full winners see the Unity website. See our Unity 6 review to see what's new in the game engine's latest update.
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Joe is a regular freelance journalist and editor at Creative Bloq. He writes news, features and buying guides and keeps track of the best equipment and software for creatives, from video editing programs to monitors and accessories. A veteran news writer and photographer, he now works as a project manager at the London and Buenos Aires-based design, production and branding agency Hermana Creatives. There he manages a team of designers, photographers and video editors who specialise in producing visual content and design assets for the hospitality sector. He also dances Argentine tango.