Back in the year 2010, Ubisoft released Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands. While the franchise had been going strong since the first game came out in 1989, but had slowed down after the late 2000s. With the release of The Forgotten Sands to mixed reviews and the company getting a new cash cow known as Assassin’s Creed, the series was put on the back burner. However, this did not stop Ubisoft Montreal from pitching another game in the franchise known as Prince of Persia Redemption for PC, Xbox 360, and Playstation 3.
While the game was never announced, footage first popped up 2012 and went unnoticed until some fans of the franchise found it and shared it around the internet earlier in 2020. Based on the footage below, we can see that the studio took inspiration from previous Prince of Persia titles as well as those from Assassin’s Creed and God of War.
So why was the game cancelled? Well the exact answer is still unknown. Some have speculated that it was due to The Forgotten Sands not selling as well as Ubisoft. Former Ubisoft animator John Cooper has his own idea. Cooper noted that Ubisoft are quick to shoot down projects related to the IP since Jordan Mechner, the creator of Prince of Persia, still holds the rights. Thereby cutting into their profits. Cooper stated:
Sadly Ubisoft are generally quicker to cancel Prince of Persia games than others IPs because AFAIK original creator Jordan Mechner still holds license rights so the profit margins are lower. Would love to see a new one though. I’ve always wanted a PoP set in contemporary Iran.
