Prince Of Persia: Sands Of Time Remake Still In “Conceptual Stages” Amid Development Struggles

Back in mid-2022, we learned that the Prince Of Persia: Sands Of Time remake that was in development at Ubisoft Pune and Ubisoft Mumbai had been shifted to Ubisoft Montreal due to a rocky development cycle. Though it’s been nearly a year since that announcement, Ubisoft recently confirmed that the game will not be at its upcoming showcase Ubisoft Forward, stating that the game is “in conception right now.”

In a Q&A with producer Jean-Francois Naud and game director Michael McIntyre, Ubisoft said that the remake is in “an early stage” and that players should not expect to hear more about the project this year. Throughout the conversation, the two creatives note that the project is a remake of the game rather than a remaster, with McIntyre saying that games have evolved in the twenty years since its original release. “I do not think a remaster would take enough of those evolutions into account,” they say. “I think you need to do a remake in order to truly evolve the game to meet a modern context.”

McIntyre also said that Sands Of Time’s signature mix of acrobatics, combat, and puzzles are important to the remake’s identity. They also said that the team has considered making the Prince’s shirt rip more and more over the course of the game, though McIntyre stopped short of confirming it. The director also said that multiple people who are working on the remake were directly inspired to join the game industry by Sands Of Time itself, including one who was studying to be an actuary when they first played it.

Ubisoft’s upcoming Ubisoft Forward event is set for June 12. We expect to see more about Assassin’s Creed Mirage, which is the next entry in the beloved series, as well as some information about the beleaguered pirate game Skull & Bones.