Ubisoft on Monday provided a long-awaited update on Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake, clarifying that the game hasn't been canceled and is still in active development. Prompted by a massive volume of fan inquiries, the company published a brief FAQ concerning the state of the game, as well as its current plans for the Prince of Persia series, of which there aren't many.
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time was released in 2003 to critical acclaim and fan adoration, quickly establishing itself as one of the greatest games of its generation. Over the next five years, the rebooted series spawned two direct sequels and another reboot. The cel-shaded Prince of Persia from 2008 also enjoyed a largely positive reception, though the series kind of trickled out in the following decade. The Sands of Time Remake was announced in 2020 with a suspect trailer that was immediately met with fan backlash which eventually prompted an internal developer switch.
While the game remains in active development, Ubisoft today said it is still too early to commit to a release date, or even a release window. Furthermore, the company confirmed it has refunded all applicable The Sands of Time Remake pre-orders, adding that it may only start accepting new ones once it's ready to attach a firm release date to the project. The gaming giant also revealed it's not planning on remaking any other installment from the iconic franchise for the time being. So, its overall plans for the series end with the release of The Sands of Time Remake, at least until it gauges public interest in continuing the iconic franchise following this rocky period of development.
Today's communication marks the first time Ubisoft acknowledged the troubled project in over half a year. Back in May, the company revealed that the Prince of Persia remake is swapping developers and that its veteran team at Ubisoft Montreal would be taking over for the India-based folks at Ubisoft Mumbai and Ubisoft Pune. In light of today's update, it would appear that The Sands of Time Remake won't be making its way to PC and consoles prior to 2024, at the earliest.
Ubisoft's continued reluctance to go into the details of the project is unsurprising, given the existing number of complaints about The Sands of Time Remake. The 2020 announcement trailer prompted an enormous volume of fan criticism targeting everything from the game's muddy textures and character models to stiff animations, badly lip-synced cutscenes, and an apparent lack of improvement to combat mechanics, arguably the only weak point of the otherwise beloved original.
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake is in development.
Source: Ubisoft