In another entry for the storied genre of games industry apologies/delays delivered via text-heavy jpegs, Ubisoft has announced that development on the Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake has shifted from Ubisofts Pune and Mumbai to Ubisoft Montreal, the studio behind the original game. The message says the Ubisoft studios “will now take the time to regroup on the scope of the game” to deliver “the best experience for this remake of an all-time classic.”
An update on the development of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake pic.twitter.com/8xQpqyPSwQMay 3, 2022
This isn’t the first sign of troubled development for The Sands of Time Remake. The game was originally set to release in early 2021, shortly after its reveal, before being delayed multiple times. Ubisoft financial projections most recently assigned it a release window of April 2022 to March 2023, and its social media has been largely silent with the exception of occasional assurances that it remains in development.
Today’s announcement from Ubisoft makes no mention of a further delay, but given that the 2022-23 figure comes from a financial report and not an official announcement, The Sands of Time Remake seems to firmly be in “when it’s done” territory. Any number of factors could have contributed to the shift in studio, but it’s a shame that the developers at Pune and Mumbai won’t be able to see their work through to its conclusion.
Hope springs eternal for seeing a finished game, however. Montreal is a bit of an ace studio for Ubisoft, and it remains unclear how far along in the process the original developers were. It is only fair that I extend The Sands of Time Remake the same optimism I hold for the similarly embattled Vampire: The Masquerade—Bloodlines 2, despite what good sense dictates for both games.