Ubisoft’s attempts to revive the legendary Prince of Persia IP have met numerous hurdles over the last few years, with its planned remake of the original title having been delayed multiple times over the course of its development. Producer Jean-Francois Naud and Game Director Michael McIntyre have now revealed that the Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time remake will not be present at Ubisoft Forward in June, given that the project has moved back to the “conception phase” since Ubisoft Montreal took over development duties. Fans will most likely receive no updates about the remake for the rest of the year as well.

• Related Reading: Prince of Persia: Sands of Time Remake Not Cancelled but Pre-Orders Have Been Refunded

Having first pushed the release of the remake from 2021 to 2022 and then taking it back to the drawing board at the Montreal studio (which created the original 2003 game), Ubisoft has been struggling to live up to fans’ expectations from The Sands of Time’s remake. It is pertinent to mention that this is the second Ubisoft Forward the project will be skipping, having done so in 2021 as well.

Naud and McIntyre revealed that the remake is currently only in the “conception” phase, and as such, there is simply is nothing to show at Ubisoft Forward:

Naud: In terms of the development stage, we’re in conception right now. Since we took over the project, we’ve been looking at feedback from the community and finding our own way of delivering the game. Now, we’re building up the team, defining the priorities, putting prototypes together, testing elements, and looking at how we can include community feedback in the development as well. It’s still in an early stage, and players should not expect to hear more about the game this year, but rest assured that we’re all putting our strengths and heart into this project.

However, they did reveal that they intend to modernize several aspects of the gameplay in the remake:

McIntyre: I think part of remake-versus-remaster is that there really is some degree of refinement in every aspect. The movement is a big one for us, but combat will get a similar treatment, because of how movement is evolving. And when we as a team look at some of the things that need to be refined, even the story – the story will remain true to itself. But the way it’s delivered, we have new ways that stories have been told in games over the past 20 years, and it allows us to be a bit more nuanced and refined in the way we execute the story.

Naud: And the big challenge is really to find that narrow line where we can modernize the game while not distorting the original experience for fans, but still able to offer something new for newcomers. That narrow line is going to be our path.

The Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time’s remake currently has no release date, and fans will unfortunately not be seeing much of it for quite a while. In the short term, the PlayStation Showcase later today and the massive reveals it promises may well sate the hunger of those dejected by this news.

Source: Ubisoft News