It is centered around a series of action-adventure games focused on various incarnations of the eponymous Prince, set in ancient and medieval Persia.

Outside of the games, the franchise includes a film adaptation based on The Sands of Time, written in part by Mechner, and released by Walt Disney Pictures in 2010; a graphic novel; and the Lego Prince of Persia toyline.

Drawing from multiple general sources of inspiration, including the One Thousand and One Nights stories,[4] and films like Raiders of the Lost Ark[5] and The Adventures of Robin Hood,[6] the protagonist's character animation was created using a technique called rotoscoping, with Mechner using his brother as the model for the titular prince.

[16][17] Mechner did not take part in the production of the next game, Prince of Persia: Warrior Within, and he commented on finding the dark atmosphere and heightened level of violence unappealing.

[18] The changes also provoked mixed reactions from critics, but sales were strong and a third game, eventually titled Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones, went into production.

[19] For The Two Thrones, the developers and artists tried to strike a balance between the light, cartoon-like tones of The Sands of Time, and the grittier mediums of Warrior Within.

[23] The collection includes The Sands of Time, Warrior Within and The Two Thrones, all previously released on the PlayStation 2, Xbox and Microsoft Windows.

[28] Alongside the main game, Ubisoft's Casablanca branch developed a direct sequel and spin-off for the Nintendo DS, titled Prince of Persia: The Fallen King,[29] which received fair reviews.

[38] Specifically, the company has developed HD remakes of the original Prince of Persia in 2007,[39] and its sequel The Shadow and the Flame in July 2013.

[40][41] In 2018, Ubisoft under the banner of its entity Ketchapp released Prince of Persia: Escape,[42] a mobile game for Android and iOS.

Reviewing for Pocket Gamer, Cameron Bald called Prince of Persia: Escape a "mundane game crushed under the weight of excessive greed".

[50] The Rogue Prince of Persia is an upcoming 2.5D roguelike title developed by Evil Empire and set to release in Early Access on May 14, 2024.

The game entered development around 2019, after a discussion between Evil Empire and Ubisoft at GDC, and its art direction is heavily inspired by Franco-Belgian comics.

[55] A video uploaded by a Ubisoft Montreal artist in 2012 but only discovered in 2020 showed a gameplay trailer for Prince of Persia Redemption which would have been released for Windows, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3.

[56][57][58] According to Jonathan Cooper, a former Ubisoft animator at the time, the trailer was a mockup of the planned gameplay for the title created by Khai Nguyen, used to pitch the game concept.

It was written by Jordan Mechner and featured illustrations by Todd McFarlane, Niko Henrichon, David Lopez and Bernard Chang.

South Korean singer-songwriter Kim Kwang-Jin released the song 'Magic Castle', with lyrics inspired from the storyline of the original Prince of Persia.

Narratively, the team wanted to move away from the Prince being someone next in line for the throne but to have to work for it; combined with research into secret societies led them to focus on the Assassins, heavily borrowing from the novel Alamut.

The "Animus" device allowed them to explain certain facets of gameplay, such as accounting when the player fails a mission, in the same way they had done in The Sands of Time.