As part of a major restructure that resulted in game cancellations and layoffs, Ubisoft officially announced that the remake of Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time has been cancelled.
Announced initially in 2020 with a target release window of 2021, the remake of Ubisoft’s take on the classic platformer originally created by Jordan Mechner had development issues, to the point of switching developer from Ubisoft Pune and Ubisoft Mumbai to Ubisoft Montreal.
On social media, the Prince Of Persia posted the dreaded image text with the game logo header that reads:
“We weren’t able to reach the level of quality you deserve, and continuing would have required more time and investment than we could responsibly commit. And we didn’t want to release something that fell short of what The Sands Of Time represents.”
Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time, released in 2003 was the first of a trilogy of action platformers released for the PS2, Xbox, Gamecube and PC. The Sands Of Time’s influence can still be felt today, as the then-innovative time-rewind feature has now became a staple assist feature in racing games, while its grounded parkour traversal which includes wall climbing and wall riding paved way for modern action games with platforming elements to flourish. Despite the remake now lost to the sands of time, so to speak, the original remains a classic.
Fans of Prince Of Persia shouldn’t be too disappointed, as Ubisoft recently released Prince Of Persia: The Lost Crown (a 2D Metroidvania style action platformer) and The Rogue Prince Of Persia (2D roguelite by an indie team that helmed the development of beloved roguelite Dead Cells).
That said, fans itching for a 3D experience will be rightfully disappointed by this news.
Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time Remake is just one of six games that Ubisoft has just canned as part of a “major reset.” According to VGC, four of the six games were unannounced titles, and the other title of the two is a mobile game.
Seven games have now been delayed into Financial Year 27, pushing them into the window between April 2026 to March 2027. Two studios, Ubisoft Halifax and Ubisoft Stockholm, have been closed, with the number of affected employees undisclosed.