Just one day after rumours of Ubisoft registering a domain name for a new Prince Of Persia game, gameplay footage for what seems to be a franchise reboot titled Prince of Persia Redemption has been discovered. What’s shocking is that the trailer was actually uploaded to YouTube way back in March 2012, and has gone unnoticed until now.

What’s weird is that the three-minute Prince of Persia Redemption gameplay trailer looks incredibly polished (and impressive, considering that it was being developed with the PS3 and Xbox 360 in mind), with smooth platforming and combat, as well as the franchise’s signature time-reverse mechanic in action.

Since the video came to light, former Ubisoft animator Jonathan Cooper confirmed the game’s authenticity, stating that the trailer was a “pre-rendered game pitch”, and the result of a one-year development effort by Ubisoft Montreal.

According to Cooper, Ubisoft ultimately cancelled the game because Jordan Mechner (the original creator of Prince Of Persia) still holds the license rights, which means that profit margins would end up being lower for the publisher.

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. Would love to see a new one though. I’ve always wanted a PoP set in contemporary Iran.

— Jonathan Cooper (@GameAnim) May 6, 2020

Interestingly enough, a comment from 2018 can be seen on the video, posted by Ubisoft assistant technical director Marc-Andre Belleau, who simply asked: “Where did you get that?!”

The last game in the franchise was Prince Of Persia: The Forgotten Sands for the PS3, Xbox 360, and PC back in 2010, which is over a decade ago now. Starting out as a revolutionary platformer with 1989’s Prince Of Persia for the Apple II, the series has been rebooted several times, and even received a live-action adaptation with 2010’s Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time starring Jake Gyllenhaal.

Check out the Prince Of Persia Redemption trailer below.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHbRCd8yzaw&w=560&h=315]