A YouTube video that appears to show footage from an unreleased Prince of Persia game, called Prince of Persia Redemption, has surfaced online. A ResetEra user posted the clip on Wednesday, noting that the eight-year-old clip originally had less than 150 views — meaning very few people noticed it. The video, which includes lots of swinging, climbing, and fighting, is reportedly “target game footage,” according to former Ubisoft and Naughty Dog animator Jonathan Cooper.
Target game footage is a “pre-rendered game pitch,” Cooper said on Twitter. Prince of Persia Redemption’s footage looked so much like actual gameplay that it inspired the Assassin’s Creed 3 team’s pitch for the game, Cooper added. He declined to comment further on the video.
Wow – haven’t seen this in ages. Amazing work from animation director Khai Nguyen (For Honor) and team. This target game footage (pre-rendered game pitch) inspired our own pitch for Assassin’s Creed 3 as they did such a great job making it look like real gameplay. https://t.co/U9cy7v4fNp— Jonathan Cooper (@GameAnim) May 6, 2020
Cooper said he hadn’t seen the footage “in ages,” but it appears that someone found it on YouTube before the masses. Ubisoft assistant technical director Marc-Andre Belleau, who commented on the video two years ago, commented on the post: “Where did you get that?!” We’ve reached out to him, too, but haven’t heard back.
Prince of Persia was originally created by Jordan Mechner in 1989. The franchise was rebooted by Ubisoft in 2003 with Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. More games followed: Warrior Within, The Two Thrones, and The Forgotten Sands. A spinoff mobile game, Prince of Persia: Escape, was released in 2018, but franchise fans have been eager for a new mainline series game.
“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,” Cooper said.
We’ve reached out to Ubisoft about the clip, and will update with additional information if the company responds.
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