Ubisoft’s announcement of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake six years in the past felt like a uncommon win for a venture that truly deserved a re-assessment. It afforded fashionable avid gamers the chance to revisit a genuinely significant title in an business that too typically leans on the concept of a greater previous with out a lot thought. As an alternative, what adopted was a drawn-out, public unraveling that ended with Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake being quietly buried amongst half a dozen different unannounced titles.
The story of The Sands of Time‘s cancellation is as distinctive as the unique recreation as soon as was, as the sport was technically remade twice earlier than finally withering away over the course of half a decade. And at the same time as Ubisoft’s broader company context grew extra unstable, every replace from The Sands of Time Remake groups revealed simply sufficient to recommend real care and energy. Ending up the way in which it did speaks to Ubisoft’s at present evolving identification higher than something, however to grasp it (and no matter comes subsequent), the timeline of Prince of Persia: Sands of Time Remake’s improvement should be traced from the start.
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time’s 2020 Reveal
Ubisoft first revealed alpha footage of a Prince of Persia: Sands of Time Remake throughout Ubisoft Ahead in September 2020. Growth was led by Ubisoft’s Mumbai and Pune studios, with a deliberate launch date of January 21, 2021. It appeared comparatively protected and meant to reintroduce the franchise to fashionable audiences on a smaller AA scale. Whereas clearly playable, the venture was seen by followers as extra of a remaster than a remake, with less-than-stellar visuals and no approach to inform whether or not gameplay would change a lot.
The response as such was fast and blended; longtime followers have been excited to see the sequence return, however the Sand of Time remake’s visuals drew criticism nearly immediately. That response would set the tone for the remake’s future, as Ubisoft discovered itself balancing fan expectations whereas inner confidence within the venture was already beneath critical scrutiny. The reveal could be the final time something near a playable venture would ever be showcased.
New 12 months’s Delays and Doubt
In December 2020, Ubisoft introduced that the Sands of Time remake was delayed to March 2021, citing the necessity for added improvement time. Then, lower than two months later, on February 5, 2021, the discharge date was scrapped, and the sport was postponed indefinitely. These early delays signaled that, regardless of the blended fan response, the remake’s challenges doubtless went past some underwhelming surface-level polish.
Fan Suggestions and Blended Alerts
For these followers watching from the surface, this might be the primary signal that the venture won’t survive, at the least in its unique type. However these multiple delays for Sands of Time‘s remake have been principally seen as an excellent factor early one, because the prevailing view was that the venture wanted extra time within the oven. Ubisoft went quiet after the indefinite postponement, nonetheless, and because the months slowly became a yr, the remake’s absence turned its personal form of message in an business the place silence typically precedes cancellation.
2022 Onerous Reset with a Acquainted Developer
Fortunately, Ubisoft reappeared in Might 2022 to substantiate that improvement of the remake was ongoing, however that the venture had moved to Ubisoft Montreal, the studio behind the original Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Acknowledging that the earlier method hadn’t met expectations, the venture was successfully reset. Whereas the choice reassured followers who trusted Montreal’s pedigree, it additionally meant beginning over after almost two years of pricey work.
Trying again, centralizing the venture beneath a particular legacy studio displays the present Ubisoft administration’s bigger aim. On the time, although, the transfer principally served to reframe the remake as one thing extra formidable. No one appeared glad with what appeared like a simplistic visible replace, and as such, Ubisoft Montreal was tasked with re-evaluating what the sport needs to be in a contemporary context.
2023 and Ubisoft Montreal’s Imaginative and prescient of Azad
One other yr of radio silence got here and went earlier than Ubisoft lastly delivered tangible particulars concerning the remake. In a Might 2023 in-house interview with Producer Jean-Francois Naud and Recreation Director Michael McIntyre, the studio claimed to be within the “conception” part, with the group constructing prototypes and redefining priorities to concentrate on gameplay. Importantly, they made some extent of setting expectations, warning gamers that there could be no additional Prince of Persia news that yr.
They dove deep into Ubisoft Montreal’s imaginative and prescient for a remake, and McIntyre emphasised mechanical evolution over reinvention, noting that motion and fight have been being refined with the teachings discovered over the studio’s previous 20 years of recreation design, and from what works within the different remakes being launched on the time. Naud described the central purpose of the venture as strolling a slender line between modernization and preservation, and it was the clearest articulation but of what this new model of the remake needed to be, even when it remained years off of launch.
Inner Milestones Hit in November
In November of the identical yr, Ubisoft marked the 20 years passing because the unique recreation’s launch by vaguely confirming the remake had handed an “important internal milestone.” The replace was temporary, however recommended that progress on the brand new remake was steady-going. It wasn’t very a lot, however it was sufficient of a reminder that the Prince of Persia remake wasn’t dead yet, even when it remained distant.
2024 Introduced Full Manufacturing and Renewed Ambition
At Ubisoft Ahead in June 2024, a brief CG teaser for The Sands of Time accompanied the announcement that the corporate would drop the “Remake” subtitle and launch the sport in 2026 beneath the unique title. Shortly thereafter, Ubisoft confirmed in one other interview that the sport had entered full manufacturing at Ubisoft Montreal, with help from a number of co-development studios, this time with Michael McIntyre and Artistic Director Bio Jade Adam Granger.
The pair described a playable venture that had already validated its core concepts, and spent many of the interview discussing narrative adjustments. Granger acknowledged the lengthy wait, explaining that the remake panorama had developed dramatically, requiring bigger adjustments to the characters, digital camera, and controls. The replace promised a recreation in full-scale manufacturing, and briefly restored confidence in a venture that was, at the least publicly, no much less intangible.
Ubisoft’s Crashing Wave
Regardless of the boldness on show with The Sands of Time, Ubisoft’s financial actuality in 2024 was changing into more and more unstable. The corporate was already strained by rising manufacturing prices and an rising dependence on long-term live-service fashions. Even closely marketed tasks struggled to justify their budgets, with Cranium & Bones particularly, Ubisoft’s different long-in-development venture, changing into an emblem of how prolonged improvement cycles and shifting inventive course might erode a venture quite than construct (or rebuild) it.
2025’s Lone Signal of Life
After one other yr of silence, the official Prince of Persia social account posted a brief message confirming improvement was nonetheless ongoing. Accompanied by new art work, the replace thanked followers for his or her persistence and emphasised the group’s care and dedication. It was clearly a smaller measure, meant to reassure followers that the most effective a part of this venture was nonetheless forward.
It didn’t imply very a lot to followers on the time, however in hindsight, the reassurance reads as much more fragile. By this level, Ubisoft’s broader monetary struggles have been changing into unimaginable to disregard, and given their present scope, it makes even much less sense. The remake was supposedly chipping away inside an organization present process fixed inner change and exterior strain to beat its downward-trending share worth.
2026, Ubisoft’s Restructuring, and The Sands of Time’s Cancellation
In the end, on January 21, 2026, Ubisoft canceled the Prince of Persia Remake, citing an incapability to succeed in “the quality fans deserved.” The remake was one in all six tasks minimize as a part of a serious inner reset. For a recreation as soon as positioned as a cornerstone revival, the tip felt abrupt, regardless of the copious proof on the contrary.
Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot mentioned the choice was a part of a sweeping restructuring plan constructed round new “Creative Houses.” What the restructuring actually meant was mass Ubisoft layoffs and studio closures, with much more downsizing to return down the road. The Prince of Persia model was positioned inside a narrative-focused division, however the remake would go no additional; the sufferer of a failing system that prioritized scalability, effectivity, and monetary acquire above all else.
The Which means Left Behind
Pulling classes from this look backward will be troublesome, particularly when actual lives and jobs are on the road, however the actuality is that nostalgia can obscure the reality. All of it appears so clear now that, following the canning of its 2020 debut, the chances have been steadily stacking towards it. Even Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, a title with probably the most beloved legacies ever, isn’t exempt from the affect of cash or mismanagement.
No one but is aware of what the second try at a Sands of Time Remake really appeared like. That’ll greater than doubtless change with time, however for now, one picture ought to turn out to be strikingly clear for followers and builders alike. As a lot as one could hope, remakes won’t ever be nearly honoring the previous, as a result of they require navigating the business because it at present exists.
