Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake was announced in 2020 with a 2021 release date, which eventually became 2022, and then 2023. Today Ubisoft did it again, saying that it is "no longer targeting a FY23 release."
The Ubisoft statement was prompted by rumors that the project had been cancelled, spurred by reports that Gamestop and Amazon had stopped taking preorders for the game, and had even delisted it for some platforms. The Sands of Time Remake has obviously struggled, but the timing of the rumored cancellation was odd: It came just a month after Ubisoft announced that development had been moved from its studios in Pune and Mumbai to Ubisoft Montreal, something it presumably wouldn't bother with if the game was that close to cancellation.
Sure enough, Ubisoft confirmed that the Montreal studio is still working on it. "We’re proud of the work achieved by Ubisoft Pune and Ubisoft Mumbai, and Ubisoft Montreal will benefit from their learnings as the new team will continue the work to deliver a great remake," a rep said. "As a consequence, we are no longer targeting a FY23 release anymore and the game has been delisted.
"If players wish to cancel their preorder they are invited to contact their retailer. They will be updated on the project as the development is moving along."
A new release target hasn't been set, but it's still possible that The Sands of Time Remake could appear in 2023: The company's 2022-23 fiscal year ends on March 31, 2023, so it could miss that mark and still arrive in the 2023 calendar year. The fact that it's being delisted from retailers points to a seriously significant wait, though—enough to make me think that development might be starting over from scratch.
