14 DAY TRIAL // Ubisoft worked on multiple Prince of Persia projects a few years ago, and one of them was set in the modern day, but with a bit of an apocalyptic twist, at least according to a former artist employed by Ubisoft.
The Prince of Persia franchise has seen a few different titles lately, with a completely cel-shaded look in the 2008 reboot titled Prince of Persia, and a traditional PoP video game launched with the real movie, titled Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands.
According to art director Jonathan Jacques-Belletête, who previously worked at Ubisoft and is now in charge of Eidos' Deus Ex: Human Revolution, the French company planned something completely different for the Prince, alongside the 2008 reboot we saw in the end.
He says that after an Assassin's Creed PlayStation 2 project was canned, Ubisoft wanted to take the Prince of Persia franchise in a new direction.
"After [the Assassins' Creed cancellation, Ubisoft] wanted a spin off for Prince of Persia. We had some awesome ideas with that too... in contemporary time."
"That one had already started at that point... Prince of Persia Zero," he said, referring to the 2008 reboot. "But they wanted really something completely out of the left field. And back then I was known as one of the ones... 'oh this guy can get some pretty cool, weird ideas'.
"So I had this little team, and [our PoP] was actually in the contemporary world. Think a bit Day After Tomorrow, but replace the snow with sand and everything. It was really wicked. But it got cancelled, and then we did all the Far Crys."
It seems that the modern Prince project was beginning to resemble too much the new Assassin's Creed franchise which, at least at some point in the future, will see its action take place fully in the modern day.
Do you think a Prince of Persia title in the present, probably with parkour elements, might work?