Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is being remade... very slowly. That's the news out of Ubisoft today as the French publisher gives us an update on the remake's troubled development.
In a new interview on Ubisoft's site, producer Jean-Francois Naud confirmed Ubisoft Montreal has just gotten around to the concept phase of Sands of Time's redevelopment after taking over from Ubisoft Pune and Mumbai last year.
"In terms of the development stage, we're in conception right now. Since we took over the project, we've been looking at feedback from the community and finding our own way of delivering the game. Now, we're building up the team, defining the priorities, putting prototypes together, testing elements, and looking at how we can include community feedback in the development as well," he said. "It’s still in an early stage, and players should not expect to hear more about the game this year, but rest assured that we’re all putting our strengths and heart into this project."
The Sands of Time remake still has no release date and all pre-orders have been canceled with disappointed fans refunded. Players will just have to be patient as Ubisoft turns the hourglass on the Sands of Time for the second time.
Originally announced back in 2020, Ubisoft Pune and Ubisoft Mumbai were jointly spearheading the remake of one of Ubisoft's most beloved action platformers. However, after displaying a lackluster trailer that seemed to have hardly improved The Sands of Time over its original PS2 graphics, Ubisoft delayed the game to March 2021, then indefinitely, and then gave it a 2022 release window. Then last May, Ubisoft announced development would be taken over by Sands of Time's original studio, Ubisoft Montreal.
"This decision is an important step and the team, building upon work achieved by Ubisoft Pune and Ubisoft Mumbai, will now take the time they need to regroup on the scope of the game to deliver you the best experience for this remake of an all-time classic, when it's ready," wrote Ubisoft.
Following that, Ubisoft began canceling pre-orders for the remake, sparking rumors of the game's cancelation. Last November, Ubisoft confirmed that the Sands of Time remake was "not canceled," but it also no longer had a release window, hence the refunds.
Ubisoft has had a rough year, posting a half-billion Euro loss in its most recent financial report primarily due to a lack of game releases. Ubisoft now has most of its staff working on Assassin's Creed and recently reported it would divert even more towards Assassin's Creed projects. This is likely the reason why Ubisoft Montreal has to hire developers to help make the Sands of Time remake. However, that could prove difficult given Ubisoft's reputation for having a toxic work culture.