The Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time remake has been scrapped
If, like us, you were looking forward to the upcoming remake of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, prepare to be thoroughly disappointed. Today, Ubisoft has announced that the project has been scrapped, alongside four other unannounced games. Three of those were set to be new IPs. Additionally, extra development time has been allocated to another seven games, pushing at least one of them which remains unannounced out of the current final year and into the next.
The news comes as Ubisoft shares that it’s set to undergo an major organisational, operational and portfolio reset in order to reclaim creative leadership and restore sustainable growth. It’s a move that is apparently driven by “the continued shift toward a persistently more selective AAA market and an increasingly competitive shooter landscape, combined with the growing challenge for publishers to create brands in a context of higher costs.”
As a result of the reset, Ubisoft will adopt a new operating model structured around five Creative Houses, each one having a particular focus. Creative House #1, dubbed Vantage Studios, is focused on “scaling and extending Ubisoft’s largest and established franchises to turn them into annual billionaire brands”, and will look after Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry and Rainbow Six.
Creative House #2, on the other hand, is dedicated to competitive and cooperative shooter experiences such as The Division, Splinter Cell and Ghost Recon, while Creative House #4 is dedicated to immersive fantasy worlds and narrative-driven universes such as Prince of Persia, Rayman, and Beyond Good & Evil.
What’s really worrying, at least to us, is that Watch Dogs isn’t mentioned in Ubisoft’s plans. Does this mean that the franchise is dead? We really hope not. With Ubisoft seemingly having a number of unannounced games in development, we’ll cling on to a glimmer of hope as long as we can.
While it’s really disappointing that Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time remake has been cancelled, at least it seems like the series will continue in some form given that it’s factored into Ubisoft’s plans.
For more information on Ubisoft’s organisational, operational and portfolio reset, you can view the press release via the Ubisoft website.
