Ubisoft cancels Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time remake alongside six other games

Fans of Prince of Persia haven't received any good news about the classic franchise for quite a few years now, and it looks like the future doesn't look any brighter. Ubisoft today revealed that the long-time-coming remake of the original game that kicked off the series, Prince of Persia: Sands of Time, has been officially canceled. Cancelations and delays have also hit a range of other games at the massive publisher.

Ubisoft says that it had just concluded a review of its upcoming projects, and some of them had not met the new standards it is attempting to hit. Its focus will be on quality open-world games and live service experiences going forward. Per the company, the canceled games "do not meet the new enhanced quality as well as more selective portfolio prioritization criteria."

The remake of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time was first announced in 2020, with Ubisoft's Pune and Mumbai studios taking the lead to bring the classic adventure to modern platforms. Following multiple delays, a developer switch, and a project reboot, it looked like the game was finally slated to land in 2026. However, that plan has also been thrown away.

Ubisoft has not given many details on what the other six in-development games that were cancelled. They had included three new IP explorations and a mobile game.

At the same time, the company revealed today that seven more unannounced games are being delayed to "ensure enhanced quality benchmarks are fully met." This delay may have also hit the long-rumored Assassin's Creed Black Flag remake project.

The organizational changes will also impact a couple of its internal studios. The company revealed that Ubisoft Stockholm and Ubisoft Halifax will be shut down as part of the changes, while layoffs will be happening across multiple other development teams. Moreover, Ubisoft is requiring all staff to return to offices five days a week to boost development performance.

Via VGC