DethManX wrote:It failed because it was released around the same time as Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, and the geniuses at Ubi put all the marketing effort towards PoP. Then they got mad when it didn't sell and within weeks it was in the bargain bin.
There may be some truth to this, as a quick search on wikipedia shows that they were both released in November 2003. The irony is that POP:Sands of Time was considered something of a commercial failure as well, but apparently not as bad as Beyond Good and Evil. They did some god awful things to the Prince of Persia series to make it more marketable. I'm hoping BG&E 2, if it ever does get released can maintain some artistic integrity.
Here's some interesting(and also quite surprising) facts quoted from wikipedia that I didn't know of, granted who knows how credible anything on wikipedia is
"The game was first shown publicly at the 2002 Electronic Entertainment Expo, where it received negative reception. Originally more "artistically ambitious" and resembling games like Ico, the game was substantially changed in order to make it more commercially appealing. Jade, originally a teenage girl, was redesigned to be more powerful and fitting of her job. The game was also shortened by removing long periods of exploration due to Ancel's dislike of this aspect of gameplay in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. The development team was "demoralized" by the changes, with Ancel commenting that the finished game resembled a sequel more than a reworking.[7] Prior to release, playable previews of the game were offered in movie theaters"