An Unlikely Franchise Could Be A Well of Inspiration for…

It's been almost 50 years since Star Wars made its cinematic debut, and it's still widely considered to be one of the biggest entertainment franchises on the planet. That popularity is in no small part due to the original trilogy's excellent world-building, which introduced a variety of alien species and referenced past events that in turn made the Star Wars galaxy feel expansive and lived-in. Naturally, Star Wars' expansive galaxy left plenty of room for prequels, sequels, and spinoffs.

There's been a steady stream of Star Wars content since the franchise's debut in 1977. Even during the "dark ages" between Return of the Jedi and Phantom Menace, Star Wars released plenty of expanded universe content, with video games doing a lot of the heavy lifting. But despite arguably being bigger than ever, the Star Wars franchise is releasing far fewer video games than it once did. A big reason for this is the larger scale of recent Star Wars games. But the recent return of one classic gaming franchise has shown that not all entries need to be huge AAA releases to be well-received.

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By LB Beistad

Star Wars Should Follow In Prince of Persia's Footsteps

Prince of Persia Has Taken Some Bold Leaps Recently

After 14 years of dormancy, the Prince of Persia franchise returned in a major way last year. Kicking off the year in style, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown (the first mainline entry since 2010's Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands) released in January 2024. A 2.5D side-scrolling metroidvania, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown hearkened back to the series' 1989 debut while providing an all-new spin on the series' action-platforming formula.

Just four months later, The Rogue Prince of Persia hit Steam early access. Much like The Lost Crown, The Rogue Prince of Persia hearkened back to the series' roots while providing a completely fresh spin in terms of gameplay and genre, this time giving the formula a roguelike makeover.

Prince of Persia's Daring Return Has Been Bittersweet

Generally speaking, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown received very positive reviews across the board, with most outlets giving the experimental revival 8s and 9s. The Rogue Prince of Persia is still in early access, but early impressions are fairly positive as well, claiming that the game has plenty of potential to be great when it finally releases fully.

Unfortunately, though critics and many fans have thoroughly enjoyed the bold new directions the Prince of Persia franchise has gone in, their sales numbers don't quite match the same level of excitement. Despite its widespread critical success, Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown only sold around 1 million copies by October 2024. This seems to be much lower than Ubisoft expected, and as such, the game's development team (Ubisoft Montpellier) was disbanded.

But while an experimental approach to genres might not have worked out in the end for Prince of Persia, at least in terms of sales, that doesn't mean it couldn't work for other franchises. And Star Wars lends itself perfectly to a more experimental approach.

Star Wars Should Borrow Prince of Persia's Experimental Approach to Genres

For the last decade or so, the Star Wars franchise has mostly released huge AAA gaming projects with presumably gigantic budgets. The higher these budgets are and the greater the scope of these projects, the higher the risk of failure. And while this has worked in Disney's favor with games like Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, which is estimated to have sold around 8-10 million copies, it's also backfired in spectacular fashion, such as last year's Star Wars Outlaws, which sold just over 1 million copies by October 2024.

Instead of gambling big every time, Disney and its publishing partners might want to borrow Prince of Persia's approach, and deliver a handful of smaller-scale experiences that experiment with genres fans don't normally get to see from the Star Wars franchise. A 2D side-scroller like Apprentice of the Force for the GBA, a Podracing kart racer, and a point-and-click Imperial Security Bureau game are all just a few examples of what Star Wars could produce to keep the franchise fresh.

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