With the Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time remake leading a lineup of six canceled games at Ubisoft, the internal studio responsible for the game put out a statement reiterating the news and commiserating with disappointed players.
"We want to share this with you directly," the X/Twitter post begins. "We've made the difficult decision to stop development on Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake. We know this is deeply disappointing. The game carries enormous meaning for fans and for the teams who worked on it.
"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. And, we didn't want to release something that fell short of what The Sands of Time represents.
"Prince of Persia as a universe and a legacy continues to matter deeply to us, and this decision does not mean we're stepping away from the franchise," the statement concludes. "Thank you for your passion, patience, and love for Prince of Persia."
Ubisoft said in a press release that this remake and five other games were canceled because they did not "meet the new enhanced quality" standards the company has set as part of a "major reset" that will dramatically alter its structure, operations, and game portfolio.
With this restructuring, Ubisoft will form five "Creative Houses" tasked with shepherding specific genres and brands within the company. Prince of Persia is assigned to Creative House 4, which will focus on "immersive fantasy worlds and narrative-driven universes," alongside series like Rayman, Beyond Good & Evil, Might & Magic, and Anno.
The Sands of Time remake was previously set for a 2026 launch. The troubled game was announced in 2020, initially set to launch in 2021, immediately criticized for its graphics, severely delayed, and then internally rebooted in 2023 amid an apparent change of staff. As recently as last summer, we heard the remake team was "still deep in the game – exploring, building, and ensuring the sands move with purpose," which, even then, didn't sound like particularly concrete progress for a game five years in the making.
Our The Rogue Prince of Persia review found that the newest game in the series is pretty good.
