It's been some time since we heard something — anything — regarding Ubisoft's Prince of Persia franchise. Now, it seems, we might just have to wait a little bit more.
In an interview with IGN, Ubisoft Montreal CEO Yannis Mallat confirms that the franchise is "paused" while they consider new ideas for it, but doesn't neccessarily think it's a bad idea.
Brand management is a tricky thing…It needs people's attention a lot. I think it is fair to say that, right now, Prince of Persia is being paused. But we said the same thing for some other brands that suddenly popped up because a team is willing to do it.
For Prince of Persia fans, Mallat doesn't want you to get worried and stresses the series is as important as any other franchise for the publisher.
I'm not scared at all for Prince of Persia fans…We'll find something to entertain them with in the future. Prince of Persia is part of Ubisoft's portfolio. As a matter of fact, we sometimes iterate on franchises and sometimes we give them time to breathe and time to grow, or time to rest. Prince of Persia is as important as any other franchise for Ubisoft. As soon as we have something to show, we will.
The last full-fledged Prince of Persia game was Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, which was released back in 2010. Last year, we saw screenshots of an alleged Prince of Persia reboot game in development just a few months after E3, but to date, Ubisoft has not denied or commented on the concept images.
As a fan of the franchise, I hope Ubisoft reboots it and makes something as charming and as fun to play as Sands of Time, but don't get all angsty and emo with it like they did with Warrior Within and The Two Thrones.
