‘Having a Project Killed is a Brutal Experience’: Prince of Persia Creator Reacts to Sands of Time Remake Cancelation

Prince of Persia creator Jordan Mechner has reacted to Ubisoft’s cancelation of its Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake, which was scrapped last month seemingly within touching distance of launch.

Writing on his personal blog, Mechner described the loss of any project as a “brutal experience” for developers — who have in some cases spent years of their life working on something that now will never see the light of day.

While not discussing the Sands of Time Remake specifically, Mechner said the experience of having game canceled was particularly tough on those who had invested long hours into their work in the expectation their sacrifices would eventually be worth it, and for younger team members who had spent years on a game they can now no longer show off on their resumé, as their work remains unreleased.

“My sympathy goes to the development team in Montreal; I can only imagine how they must feel,” Mechner wrote. “Having a project killed is a brutal experience. It’s an aspect of the game industry that the public doesn’t often see, but developers are all too familiar with.

“A cancelation so close to release can be particularly devastating for younger team members who don’t have decades of past shipped titles on their resumé. It’s tough to suddenly absorb that the past four years of hard work you were proud of, and looking forward to seeing out in the world as your new calling card, will now never see daylight.

“Words like loss and grieving might seem exaggerated,” he concluded, “but artists put their hearts into their work. Memories of nights and weekends spent in studio crunch instead of at home with loved ones, sacrifices that felt worth it at the time, only add to the pain retrospectively once their object ceases to exist.”

Ubisoft confirmed it had canned the Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake last month as part of a wider reorganization that featured layoffs at three development studios, the closure of two more, and the shutdown of five other game projects. A swathe of other, unnamed games were also delayed — reportedly including Ubisoft’s unconfirmed but widely-expected Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag remake.

For its part, Ubisoft told Prince of Persia fans that despite six years of work, its Sands of Time remake was still too far away from being ready to fund any further — despite the suggestion from other reporting that the game had been nearing release. “We weren’t able to reach the level of quality you deserve,” Ubisoft said in a statement to fans, “and continuing would have required more time and investment than we could responsibly commit.”

Subsequently, actress Eman Ayaz — who is widely-believed to have been playing the game’s major role of Farah — said she had “filmed marketing” as recently as November last year, and had now lost three years’ worth of work. “Sadly the entertainment industry isn’t just about entertainment,” Ayaz said, “it’s about guaranteeing a cash flow. And that means making decisions that treat people’s lives as collateral damage, and art as disposable content… This project existed, even if the world never got to see it.

Last week, Ubisoft confirmed to IGN that a collectible dagger which popped up for sale online was indeed a Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake promotional item, albeit from back in 2020. It’s still unclear how the dagger has surfaced now.

Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social