The Prince of Persia franchise is one of Ubisoft’s most successful and long-running series to date, but the past few years haven’t been very kind to the prince. Every game in the series has been fairly well-received critically, but Ubisoft hasn’t seen much success with the franchise over the past few years.
Ubisoft Montreal CEO Yannis Mallat understands the trouble with keeping a brand alive, and the company’s plans to continue developing Prince of Persia titles have been put on hold. In an interview with IGN, Mallat stated:
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.
Mallat went on to say that fans shouldn’t worry about the future of the franchise, as Ubisoft is definitely not planning on abandoning it altogether. Instead, it is time for the series to take a break while the company and its various studios think of new ideas on how to approach the property. The most recent game in the series, 2010’s Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands, continued the story of The Prince and his time-shifting dagger and received many positive reviews. However, the one major criticism was the game’s tired formula, with almost no changes from previous games in the series.
While the future of the franchise remains unknown, gamers can still play the classic PS2 titles on PS3 via the Prince of Persia Classic Trilogy HD. The series has had a good run so far, so let’s hope that Ubisoft doesn’t let it fade away.
