Ubisoft is calling in backup from an internal studio for the troubled Prince of Persia: Sands of Time remake

Ubisoft Toronto has been called in to help drag the struggling Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time remake out of development hell.

In a tweet, Ubisoft Toronto announced that it's "joining the development of the remake of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. We're excited to rewind time and bring our studio’s creativity, expertise and updated tech to refresh this beloved classic with our partners at Ubisoft Montréal."

For what seems to be a fairly straightforward refresh, The Sands of Time remake has had an unusually long and turbulent development since it was announced back in 2020. It was originally in development at Ubisoft Pune and Ubisoft Mumbai with an anticipated January 2021 release. That obviously didn't happen and the project was moved to Ubisoft Montréal in May 2022 and delayed indefinitely in June 2022. A few months later Ubisoft canceled all existing pre-orders but affirmed the remake was still in development at Ubisoft Montréal.

Just before last year's not-E3 showcase blitz, Ubisoft got ahead of the inevitable questions around the Sands of Time remake by confirming it was still "very much alive" but was back "in the conception phase." Then, in January of this year, there was a resurgence of a weird phenomenon in which trophies for the unreleased project appeared on the PSN database. This happened once in November 2022 and again in January, and it's still unclear whether a playable version of the game was somehow accessed ahead of launch or if it was just a glitch in the system.

Ubisoft Toronto, meanwhile, is the internal studio created back in 2010 by Jade Raymond, known for helping to lead the creation of the Assassin's Creed and Watch Dogs series. The studio has gone on to make and contribute to games such as Splinter Cell: Blacklist, Far Cry 5, Starlink: Battle for Atlas, Watch Dogs Legion, and most recently Far Cry 6. Right now it's working on the Splinter Cell remake, which coincidentally we also haven't heard anything about for some time.

In the meantime, here's how to play the original Prince of Persia games in 2024.