The Rogue Prince of Persia has officially welcomed more than one million players, and Evil Empire has decided that reaching seven figures deserves a little more than a cake and some candles.
The milestone was announced through the official Prince of Persia social media accounts as the roguelike celebrates the anniversary of its full 1.0 release. It’s another impressive achievement for a game that has changed considerably since first entering Early Access, particularly when you consider Evil Empire was still describing that million-player mark as being just out of reach earlier this year.
Now it’s finally crossed it, and there’s more on the way to give those million players another reason to head back to Ctesiphon.
From Early Access to One Million Players
The Rogue Prince of Persia originally entered Steam Early Access in May 2024, bringing the familiar wall-running, acrobatics, and combat of Prince of Persia into a roguelike structure. It wasn’t exactly a flawless beginning.
Evil Empire revealed earlier this year that the game’s Steam review score sat at around 70% when Early Access began. Rather than simply pushing toward 1.0, the studio spent the following months reworking and expanding huge parts of the game with help from player feedback.
That work eventually led to the full release in August 2025, with The Rogue Prince of Persia also making its way beyond Steam to PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch. By February 2026, Evil Empire said its Steam review score had climbed to 88%, while the total number of players was rapidly approaching one million.
A Birthday Patch Is on the Way
Evil Empire isn’t marking the occasion with numbers alone. An anniversary patch is also on the way, although the developer isn’t giving everything away just yet. The announcement teases new additions for players to discover when the update arrives, continuing the studio’s plans to support The Rogue Prince of Persia well beyond its 1.0 release.
We’ve already seen plenty of evidence that Evil Empire isn’t finished with the Prince. Earlier this year, the studio laid out plans for two substantial free updates. Those plans included changes to the opening hour, tougher and faster biomes, weapon affixes, arenas, the introduction of Freeze as a new element, and additional endgame challenges.
The developer later pushed its upcoming content into the summer so the update could arrive across Steam and consoles at the same time, rather than leaving console players waiting behind their PC counterparts.
Exactly how the newly teased anniversary patch fits into those plans remains to be seen, but there should be plenty more information coming once Evil Empire is ready to show its hand.
Quite the Year for the Prince
Reaching one million players isn’t the only reason Evil Empire has had to celebrate in 2026.
The Rogue Prince of Persia was included on the BAFTA Games Awards longlist and picked up four nominations at the Pégases, France’s national video game awards, including a nomination for Best Game.
That’s quite a turnaround for something that began its Early Access journey with a much more mixed response.
The Rogue Prince of Persia has always had a pretty strong foundation. Its fast movement lets you wall-run, vault, kick, and fight your way through procedurally generated levels, while the roguelike structure encourages you to experiment with different weapons, medallions, and combinations every time the Prince heads back out.
One Million Down, Plenty More Runs to Go
Evil Empire hasn’t announced an exact arrival date for the anniversary patch yet, so for now we’ll have to hold fire to see exactly what’s waiting for us. What we do know is that more than one million players have now joined the Prince on his roguelike adventure, and the studio clearly isn’t ready to stop adding to it.
For a Prince who’s spent the last couple of years repeatedly dying, rewinding time, and trying again, reaching one million players feels rather appropriate. After all, nobody ever said you had to get there in one run.