“Rampant Mismanagement” Reportedly Botched Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake

It has been stated that the troubled Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time remake was allegedly doomed from the start.

It has been stated that the troubled Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time remake was allegedly doomed from the start.

According to a report by 0451 Games earlier today, multiple sources at developers Ubisoft Mumbai and Ubisoft Pune have revealed that they received little to no support from publisher Ubisoft for the remake.

The project hit an immediate rut when Ubisoft Mumbai and Ubisoft Pune were barely given any of the original design documents for the game. The lack of design information forced the Indian developers to figure out for themselves how to create the original Sands of Time levels from scratch.

Secondly, Ubisoft Mumbai and Ubisoft Pune were forced to use the Anvil Engine for the remake which was specifically created by Ubisoft Montreal for Assassin’s Creed. Making development even more of a challenge was that Ubisoft India was given an engine version based on Assassin’s Creed Origins. Trying to fit the same animation rig for Prince of Persia was the reason behind the bad animation sequences from the initial reveal of the remake.

It has furthermore been stated that the Sands of Time remake was being developed under inexperienced leadership. Its game director had no development experience to helm such a high-profile project and decided to outsource the remake to Brighton-based developer Electric Square following the backlash of the initial reveal.

Electric Square has collaborated with a number of publishers such as Electronic Arts and Rebellion Developments over the years, and not just Ubisoft. The developer has as of late provided support for Battlefield 2042 and Sniper Elite 5 for example. However, even Electric Square was unable to take the Sands of Time remake over the finish line, after which the project was handed over to Ubisoft Montreal, the original developer of the Sands of Time.

Ubisoft Mumbai and Ubisoft Pune have now been relegated back to quality assurance and live operations after botching the Sands of Time remake. It also seems unlikely that Ubisoft India will be tasked to lead full-scale development any time soon since a number of senior Indian developers have parted ways with both studios.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake was announced in 2020 before going on a hiatus. The initial reveal was nothing that fans had dreamed a remake would look (or play) like. The remake has been slated for 2023 at the time of writing but could easily take more time.

Saqib is a managing editor at segmentnext.com who has halted regime changes, curbed demonic invasions, and averted at least one cosmic omnicide from the confines of his gaming chair. When not whipping his writers into ...