Prince of Persia: Sands of Time Remake ‘still at an early stage’, Ubisoft says

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake is “still in an early stage” of development and won’t be shown at the Ubisoft Forward event in June.

Ubisoft provided an update on the long in development project on Wednesday, in the form of a developer Q&A and an updated public FAQ.

When it was announced in September 2020, the game had been in development for two and a half years at Indian studios Ubisoft Pune and Ubisoft Mumbai, and was planned for release in January 2021.

But following a negative reaction to the game’s reveal trailer, it was delayed several times, and last May it was announced that Ubisoft Montreal, which made 2003’s original Sand of Time, had taken over development duties.

“In terms of the development stage, we’re in conception right now,” producer Jean-Francois Naud said in an interview published on Wednesday. “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.

“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.”

While the game is being updated for a modern audience, game director Michael McIntyre discussed the key elements of the original that need to be preserved.

“The gameplay mix of acrobatics, combat, puzzles – those things have to stay, and they have to stay balanced to the same degree they are,” he said. “You don’t keep those, and then double the amount of combat, and say that it’s still The Sands of Time. Keeping not only those gameplay pillars, but also the same balance, is important.

“Obviously, keeping the same story and setting is important, but one of the things we identified as being critical to make certain that this is not just a Prince of Persia game, but that it is The Sands of Time, is that there is a narrator that is telling you this story, and it is a story within a story.

“Even other Prince of Persia games did not do that, and it really is a secret ingredient to that feeling of The Sands of Time, that sort of storybook feel. That is super-important for us to preserve.”

In its updated FAQ, Ubisoft noted that “beyond Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time there are currently no plans to remake any other Prince of Persia title.”

Ubisoft will show off a number of its upcoming releases during Ubisoft Forward on June 12.

It recently confirmed that its release schedule for the current fiscal year ending in March 2024 includes Assassin’s Creed Mirage, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Mobile, Tom Clancy’s The Division Resurgence, Skull and Bones, The Crew Motorfest, XDefiant and “another large game”.

The mystery title referred to by the company is reportedly Ubisoft Massive’s open-world Star Wars game.