While Ubisoft’s share-holders are still reeling from the company’s share prices having dropped following its announcement of organizational overhauls that included the cancellation of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake, a new report indicates that the title was close to being completed. In a Q&A on the Prince of Persia subreddit, a user going by SocramVelmar—claiming to be one of its developers—has said that it was “close to the finish line.”
It is worth noting that SocramVelmar hasn’t been verified as legitimately being a current or former Ubisoft employee. When questioned about this, they said that they couldn’t reveal who they were at the risk of being in breach of non-disclosure agreements. Due to this, the whole Q&A thread has been marked as being “Unverified”.
When asked about why Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake was ultimately cancelled, SocramVelmar expressed frustration. The reason given by management, they noted, was simply “restructuring.” They also noted that there was “a lot of internal fear” among the development team.
“They said because of restructuring, but I’m honestly upset because I think it was close to the finish line,” they wrote. “I was working remotely and we were told that we had to go back to the office soon, but I didn’t make it out of the chopping block… there was a lot of internal fear which in a way did stagnate progress. This was known internally for a while now, rumors that became true.”
As for the overall state of the game prior to cancellation, SocramVelmar noted that there were problems with “internal alignment”, which meant that the studio was having trouble in locking down the feel of gameplay. There were also teams in the studio that were working in “slightly different directions”, which led to more reworking rather than refinements or progress. They also noted that leaked screenshots or trailers didn’t really contribute to the project’s cancellation. Rather, these tended to act as “unsolicited feedback” by the studio.
“The bigger issue was internal alignment, and design probably had it the worst. They’d be trying to lock down how something should feel or play, while other teams were already moving in slightly different directions. That kind of push and pull leads to rework instead of progress, and over time that friction adds up way more than any leak ever could,” they wrote.
Going further into its gameplay, SocramVelmar said that its combat was going to be like the classic Prince of Persia game with “clean sword fights” and “smooth movement”. The title would also feature combat and platforming blending together at certain points, and the concept of big combos and flashy systems was de-emphasized.
“It was back to what made Prince of Persia feel special in the first place,” explained SocramVelmar. “Clean sword fights, smooth movement, and that flow where combat and platforming blend together. It didn’t seem focused on big combos or flashy systems, but more on timing, positioning, and using the environment. There was just enough of a twist with timing-based moves to keep it fresh, while still feeling like the kind of Prince of Persia combat you remember.”
While Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake is one of many projects that were cancelled, one report has indicated that the long-in-development Beyond Good and Evil 2 has managed to escape this fate and is still in active development.
