Ubisoft refunds players for missing Prince of Persia remake

Ubisoft has started refunding players for a Prince of Persia: Sands of Time remake, but claims it’s still in the works, despite a rocky development cycle.

A Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time remake stuck in development hell is reportedly still in the works, but Ubisoft has started refunding pre-orders for it nonetheless.

Ubisoft provided a new FAQ on its official website for the previously-announced remake specifically stating that the game isn’t dead yet, despite first being revealed two years ago for a January 2021 release. The game has reportedly changed development studios more than once (thanks Eurogamer!), being previously worked on by Ubisoft Pune and Ubisoft Mumbai, but is now being developed by Ubisoft Montreal.

The game was pushed into March 2021 and then 2022 before eventually being delayed indefinitely. Ubisoft says that the game is still currently in development, but that a new release date has not been set and that more information will be provided when Ubisoft is ready.

Prince of Persia was popular enough to spawn a live-action movie. Picture: Ubisoft

Despite this, Ubisoft has started cancelling pre-orders for the game, and refunding players who had previously put money down for it. The company also mentions that it has no plans to remake any other Prince of Persia title, and given how much trouble Sands of Time has been facing, it’s probably safe to assume it’s not lying there.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time originally released on the PlayStation 2 and GameCube back in late-2003 as a reboot of the long-running Prince of Persia series that debuted on the Apple II. It was extremely well-received, selling over 14 million copies worldwide since its release, and press and players alike praising it for its design and visuals.

Ubisoft has come under fire lately after it was revealed that Jonathan Dumont, the director behind hit game Assassin’s Creed, was accused of harassment, with claims from anonymous Ubisoft employees surfacing alleging that he was “narcissistic and overall a major bully”, as well as “misogynistic and homophobic”.

In related news, Mick Gordon, the composer behind DOOM Eternal has accused Doom developer id Software of theft, also detailing allegations of major crunch – unreasonable working hours and conditions – as well as misinformation and poor management. Gordon says he produced twice as much audio for DOOM Eternal as he was paid for, and that requests from the development team were “unreasonable”.

Written by Oliver Brandt on behalf of GLHF.