author: Michael Kulakowski
Video From Prince of Persia: Redemption - Ubisoft's Canceled Action Game
Unexpectedly, fans of the Pince of Persia series began frantically discussing the concept trailer of Prince of Persia: Redemption, which has remained virtually unnoticed on YouTube for eight years. The game from the trailer was canceled by Ubisoft in 2011. We also found out that the rumors about Prince of Persia 6 are probably false.
Thanks to an entry on ResetER forum, fans of the Prince of Persia series began to discuss a trailer, little over the three-minute, of Prince of Persia: Redemption posted on YouTube. The video was published on YouTube in... 2012, but miraculously nobody paid much attention to it for years and during that time it gathered a little over 150 views. This has changed now that the eyes of the players are keeping a vigilant watch when it comes to news on the franchise, after Monday's reports of Ubisoft registering a website named Prince of Persia 6.
The authenticity of the video was confirmed on Twitter by Ubisoft's employees such as Marc-Andre Belleau and Jonathan Cooper. The latter mentioned that we are dealing with a pre-rendered game concept, which was to present its target look and gameplay model. It was created by a team led by Khai Nguyen, who later animated For Honor. Work on Prince of Persia: Redemption took place in 2010-2011 and the title was to be another reboot of the series, which would hit Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC. For unknown reasons, the French publisher suspended work on the title.
Rumors about Prince of Persia 6 are probably a false alarm
To further disappoint the fans of the Prince, let's add that the rumors suggesting the existence of Prince of Persia 6 were most likely false. However, Gandi.net, which is responsible for registering Ubisoft's websites, isn't the owner of the website for the new Prince of Persia, which would be an indicator of the rumor's authenticity. The website is owned by the GoDaddy hosting company. However, the website is still connected with French company's servers, so it is difficult to pass final judgment in this case and it is worth to be skeptical about it.
While talking about Prince of Persia 6, it's worth mentioning an interesting comment by Jonathan Cooper, accompanying the description of the animation from Prince of Persia: Redemption. According to the developer, anyone trying to make a full-fledged continuation of Ubisoft's series would be discouraged by the license fees/royalties they would have to pay to Jordan Mechner, the original creator of the series. For the time being, the Prince of Persia franchise is doomed to continue to function as spin-offs, such as the VR games we described some time ago.
The last major installment of the series - Prince of Persia: Forgotten Sands - appeared on the market 10 years ago. This title is at the same time the fifth game (not counting side titles), since Ubisoft acquired the rights to the IP.