Sands of Time Slip Away: Ubisoft Axes Prince of Persia Remake in Desperate Company Overhaul
Ubisoft canceled the Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time remake on January 21, 2026. The decision ends a six-year saga marked by delays and restarts. It hits as Ubisoft restructures amid financial woes, scrapping six projects total.
Here’s the TL;DR...
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time remake announced in 2020, rebooted in 2022, targeted 2026—now fully dead.
Six games canned, including three new IPs and a mobile title; seven others delayed.
Two studios closed (Stockholm, Halifax); layoffs hit multiple sites.
Ubisoft reorganizes into five “Creative Houses,” with Prince of Persia series surviving under one.
Recent flops like Skull and Bones and Star Wars Outlaws fueled the cutbacks.
Why Did Ubisoft Cancel the Prince of Persia Remake?
Ubisoft reviewed its pipeline in December and January. Projects failing “new enhanced quality” bars got axed.
CFO Frederick Duguet explained the market demands top-tier hits. “We went through a thorough review... with the current market evolution in mind—which is consistently more selective.”
What Was the Original Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time?
Ubisoft Montreal released the game in November 2003. It introduced rewind combat and platforming on the Jade engine.
Critics praised its fluid acrobatics and story. Metacritic scores hovered at 89–92 across platforms.
![Out of curiosity, in Prince of Persia [Sands of Time] how long would you be able to return time? : r/gaming](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!SHig!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Faf4cba75-e45e-4c40-b8f6-caeb10eeecc7_639x361.jpeg "Out of curiosity, in Prince of Persia [Sands of Time] how long would you be able to return time? : r/gaming")
How Did the Remake Go Wrong from Day One?
Ubisoft Pune and Mumbai unveiled it at Ubisoft Forward 2020. A January 2021 launch slipped fast.
By 2022, Montreal took over and rebooted on Anvil. A 2024 Summer Game Fest teaser promised 2026—trailers drew jeers for stiff models.
Which Other Projects Got the Chop?
Six titles vanished outright. Prince of Persia stood alone as a named victim; the rest hid as unannounced IPs and mobile projects.
Seven faced delays to hit benchmarks. The Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag remake likely shifts to fiscal 2027.
What Studios and Jobs Disappeared?
Ubisoft Stockholm and Halifax shut down. Stockholm aided Avatar: Frontiers; Halifax handled mobile.
Layoffs spread to Abu Dhabi, RedLynx, and Massive. CEO Yves Guillemot blamed “selective AAA” trends and rising costs.
How Bad Have Ubisoft’s Recent Games Flopped?
Skull and Bones devoured $650–850 million over 12 years. It bombed on launch.
Star Wars Outlaws missed sales targets in 2024. Fiscal 2024–25 closed with a €159 million loss. Avatar: Frontiers also underwhelmed.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows bucked the trend, notching the franchise’s second-best Day 1 sales.
What’s the New Structure at Ubisoft?
Five Creative Houses launch as independent units. House 4 claims Prince of Persia alongside Rayman and Beyond Good & Evil.
All mandate five-day office returns. Net bookings forecasts drop to €1.5 billion.
Will Prince of Persia Live On?
The series endures in House 4. Spin-offs like The Lost Crown (2024) succeeded recently.
Ubisoft eyes “immersive fantasy worlds.” No remake replacement yet.
Ubisoft‘s reset prioritizes live-service and open-world bets amid cutbacks. The Prince of Persia remake joins a growing list of casualties from shaky launches like Outlaws and Skull and Bones. Fans hold their breath for House 4 output, but trust rebuilds slowly—watch fiscal guidance and layoffs for clues on recovery.
Hat Tips
IGN — Ubisoft Cancels 6 Projects Including Prince of Persia (Jan 21, 2026)
Kotaku — Ubisoft Cancels Long-Delayed Prince Of Persia Remake (Jan 21, 2026)
GameSpot — Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time Remake Canceled (Jan 21, 2026)
Wikipedia — Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
80 Level — Skull and Bones Cost Report (Oct 3, 2024)
GlobeNewswire — Ubisoft FY25 Earnings (May 14, 2025)
The Game Awards — X Post (Jan 21, 2026)
Article Compiled and Edited by Derek Gibbs on January 21, 2026 for Clownfish TV D/REZZED News.
Solid breakdown of the situation. The Sands of Time saga really shows how dangerous it is when publishers keep resetting projects midstream instead of cutting losses early. I watched the same pattren with Skull and Bones over a decade and honestly its wild that $800M+ can just vanish. Curious if the Creative Houses model will actualy give teams more autonomy or if its just corporate restructuring theater.