Ubisoft’s announcement of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake six years ago felt like a rare win for a project that actually deserved a second look. It afforded modern gamers the opportunity to revisit a genuinely meaningful title in an industry that too often leans on the idea of a better past without much thought. Instead, what followed was a drawn-out, public unraveling that ended with Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake being quietly buried among half a dozen other unannounced titles.
The story of The Sands of Time's cancellation is as unique as the original game once was, as the game was technically remade twice before ultimately withering away over the course of half a decade. And even as Ubisoft’s broader corporate context grew more unstable, each update from The Sands of Time Remake teams revealed just enough to suggest genuine care and effort. Ending up the way it did speaks to Ubisoft’s currently evolving identity better than anything, but to understand it (and whatever comes next), the timeline of Prince of Persia: Sands of Time Remake’s development must be traced from the beginning.
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time’s 2020 Reveal
Ubisoft first revealed alpha footage of a Prince of Persia: Sands of Time Remake during Ubisoft Forward in September 2020. Development was led by Ubisoft’s Mumbai and Pune studios, with a planned release date of January 21, 2021. It seemed relatively safe and intended to reintroduce the franchise to modern audiences on a smaller AA scale. While clearly playable, the project was seen by fans as more of a remaster than a remake, with less-than-stellar visuals and no way to tell whether gameplay would change much.
The reaction as such was immediate and mixed; longtime fans were excited to see the series return, but the Sand of Time remake's visuals drew criticism almost instantly. That response would set the tone for the remake’s future, as Ubisoft found itself balancing fan expectations while internal confidence in the project was already under serious scrutiny. The reveal would be the last time anything close to a playable project would ever be showcased.
New Year’s Delays and Doubt
In December 2020, Ubisoft announced that the Sands of Time remake was delayed to March 2021, citing the need for additional development time. Then, less than two months later, on February 5, 2021, the release date was scrapped, and the game was postponed indefinitely. These early delays signaled that, despite the mixed fan response, the remake’s challenges likely went beyond some underwhelming surface-level polish.
Fan Feedback and Mixed Signals
For those fans watching from the outside, this would be the first sign that the project might not survive, at least in its original form. But these multiple delays for Sands of Time's remake were mostly seen as a good thing early one, as the prevailing view was that the project needed more time in the oven. Ubisoft went quiet after the indefinite postponement, however, and as the months slowly turned into a year, the remake’s absence became its own kind of message in an industry where silence often precedes cancellation.
2022 Hard Reset with a Familiar Developer
Luckily, Ubisoft reappeared in May 2022 to confirm that development of the remake was ongoing, but that the project had moved to Ubisoft Montreal, the studio behind the original Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Acknowledging that the previous approach hadn’t met expectations, the project was effectively reset. While the decision reassured fans who trusted Montreal’s pedigree, it also meant starting over after nearly two years of costly work.
Looking back, centralizing the project under a specific legacy studio reflects the current Ubisoft management's larger goal. At the time, though, the move mostly served to reframe the remake as something more ambitious. Nobody seemed satisfied with what looked like a simplistic visual update, and as such, Ubisoft Montreal was tasked with re-evaluating what the game should be in a modern context.
2023 and Ubisoft Montreal’s Vision of Azad
Another year of radio silence came and went before Ubisoft finally delivered tangible details about the remake. In a May 2023 in-house interview with Producer Jean-Francois Naud and Game Director Michael McIntyre, the studio claimed to be in the “conception” phase, with the team building prototypes and redefining priorities to focus on gameplay. Importantly, they made a point of setting expectations, warning players that there would be no further Prince of Persia news that year.
They dove deep into Ubisoft Montreal’s vision for a remake, and McIntyre emphasized mechanical evolution over reinvention, noting that movement and combat were being refined with the lessons learned over the studio's past 20 years of game design, and from what works in the other remakes being released at the time. Naud described the central aim of the project as walking a narrow line between modernization and preservation, and it was the clearest articulation yet of what this new version of the remake wanted to be, even if it remained years off of release.
Internal Milestones Hit in November
In November of the same year, Ubisoft marked the 20 years passing since the original game’s release by vaguely confirming the remake had passed an “important internal milestone.” The update was brief, but suggested that progress on the new remake was steady-going. It wasn’t very much, but it was enough of a reminder that the Prince of Persia remake wasn't dead yet, even if it remained distant.
2024 Brought Full Production and Renewed Ambition
At Ubisoft Forward in June 2024, a short CG teaser for The Sands of Time accompanied the announcement that the company would drop the “Remake” subtitle and release the game in 2026 under the original name. Shortly thereafter, Ubisoft confirmed in another interview that the game had entered full production at Ubisoft Montreal, with support from multiple co-development studios, this time with Michael McIntyre and Creative Director Bio Jade Adam Granger.
The pair described a playable project that had already validated its core ideas, and spent most of the interview discussing narrative changes. Granger acknowledged the long wait, explaining that the remake landscape had evolved dramatically, requiring larger changes to the characters, camera, and controls. The update promised a game in full-scale production, and briefly restored confidence in a project that was, at least publicly, no less intangible.
Ubisoft’s Crashing Wave
Despite the confidence on display with The Sands of Time, Ubisoft’s economic reality in 2024 was becoming increasingly unstable. The company was already strained by rising production costs and an increasing dependence on long-term live-service models. Even heavily marketed projects struggled to justify their budgets, with Skull & Bones in particular, Ubisoft’s other long-in-development project, becoming a symbol of how extended development cycles and shifting creative direction could erode a project rather than build (or rebuild) it.
2025’s Lone Sign of Life
After another year of silence, the official Prince of Persia social account posted a short message confirming development was still ongoing. Accompanied by new artwork, the update thanked fans for their patience and emphasized the team’s care and commitment. It was clearly a smaller measure, meant to reassure fans that the best part of this project was still ahead.
It didn’t mean very much to fans at the time, but in hindsight, the reassurance reads as even more fragile. By this point, Ubisoft’s broader financial struggles were becoming impossible to ignore, and given their current scope, it makes even less sense. The remake was supposedly chipping away within a company undergoing constant internal change and external pressure to beat its downward-trending share price.
2026, Ubisoft’s Restructuring, and The Sands of Time’s Cancellation
Ultimately, on January 21, 2026, Ubisoft canceled the Prince of Persia Remake, citing an inability to reach “the quality fans deserved.” The remake was one of six projects cut as part of a major internal reset. For a game once positioned as a cornerstone revival, the end felt abrupt, despite the copious evidence to the contrary.
Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said the decision was part of a sweeping restructuring plan built around new “Creative Houses.” What the restructuring really meant was mass Ubisoft layoffs and studio closures, with even more downsizing to come down the line. The Prince of Persia brand was placed within a narrative-focused division, but the remake would go no further; the victim of a failing system that prioritized scalability, efficiency, and financial gain above all else.
The Meaning Left Behind
Pulling lessons from this look backward can be difficult, especially when real lives and jobs are on the line, but the reality is that nostalgia can obscure the truth. It all seems so clear now that, following the canning of its 2020 debut, the odds were steadily stacking against it. Even Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, a title with one of the most beloved legacies ever, isn’t exempt from the influence of money or mismanagement.
Nobody yet knows what the second attempt at a Sands of Time Remake actually looked like. That’ll more than likely change with time, but for now, one image should become strikingly clear for fans and developers alike. As much as one may hope, remakes will never be just about honoring the past, because they require navigating the industry as it currently exists.
OpenCritic Reviews
- Developer(s)
- Ubisoft Montreal
- Publisher(s)
- Ubisoft
- Engine
- Jade
- Franchise
- Prince of Persia
