Sands of Time Remake are Salt in the Wound for Fans in Mourning
If you went back in time to January 2025 and told someone that a year from now, Ubisoft would undergo a “major reset“ that would change the face and structure of the company, they might not have been too surprised by the news. If you then added that this reset would also include the cancellation of the long-awaited Prince of Persia: Sands of Time Remake (while Beyond Good & Evil 2 remained in production), that might’ve caught them off guard.
But that is indeed how things shook out, with the remake indeed cancelled, as Ubisoft ultimately decided it did “not meet the new enhanced quality” standards it is enforcing in this new era of the company’s history. A statement shared from the official X (formerly Twitter) account for the Prince of Persia franchise shortly after the official reset announcement claimed that “While the project had real potential, 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,“ adding that the team did not want to release something they felt fell below players’ expectations, and that this cancellation “does not mean we’re stepping away from the franchise.”
Now, as the dust continues to settle around Ubisoft with more layoffs incoming and unions representing Ubisoft employees calling for chief executive officer Yves Guillemot to recognize that he and the rest of the company’s top brass are the issue and not the people who actually make the games, a leaked workshop showcasing an early pre-alpha build of the Prince of Persia: Sands of Time Remake from 2024 has fans mourning the lost project even more.
The workshop presentation was initially found on Reddit, though it was quickly copyright-claimed by Ubisoft and has since been taken down. Though not quickly enough, it would seem, as X (formerly Twitter) user princeozzyX, also known under the Prince of Persia Universe handle, compiled specifically the images of art and in-game screencaps that at least one fan called “breathtaking,” while others add that the game, even in an unfinished state, already looked “beautiful” and that they are now “even more upset” over its cancellation.
Impressive as these images may look to some, the reality is that we don’t know the full story behind the game’s cancellation. That said, we can make assumptions about project mismanagement, especially when looking at the game’s public history and the fact that the same leadership group that allowed this to happen is also the one that led Ubisoft to lose 95% of its value in the last eight years.
After leaks pointing to its imminent reveal, Ubisoft officially announced the remake in September 2020, with a release date set for early 2021. The reception was less than ideal, with many fans calling out its lacking visuals. But the reality of the time was that we all knew it could get better, so there wasn’t too much concern as long as the gameplay was solid.
Months after its reveal, its release date was pushed back slightly further into 2021 to March, but before it could reach that March release date, Ubisoft announced the game had been delayed indefinitely. The launch was pushed to 2022, before the project was taken from the Ubisoft Mumbai and Ubisoft Pune studios, who were previously leading it, to Ubisoft Montreal in May 2022. Almost a year to date later, in May 2023, it was announced that the game was officially rebooted and back in the concept phase.
After that, development updates were scarce and vague, and despite Ubisoft putting more teams on the project and the initial look at the graphical overhaul looking promising, with a 2026 release even said to be sometime in January 2026, it was ultimately not enough for Ubisoft to consider putting the game out.
Follow Wccftech on Google to get more of our news coverage in your feeds.
First Appeared on
Source link
