Prince of Persia social media botch forces Ubisoft to promise once again that it's still working on The Sands of Time

In what seems like an entirely out-of-nowhere reminder, a surprise message on the Prince of Persia X account has popped up to promise everyone that yes, Ubisoft is still working on The Sands of Time "behind the scenes," and no, it has nothing more to say about it. It's all a bit odd, and almost entirely random, but scrolling back through the social media feed reveals that there is actually a good reason for the unprompted message—and by "good" I mean pretty silly.

First things first, a quick timeline on The Sands of Time Remake. It was originally supposed to be out in January 2021 but was delayed a couple months because "2020 has been a year like no other," and boy, we really had no idea, did we?

Fair enough, then—and also a reminder of how long this whole thing has been dragging on—but another delay followed without a new release date—never a good sign—and then another, and eventually it got to the point where Ubisoft was reduced to promising the whole thing hadn't been cancelled (but had been delayed (again)). There was a new studio, and more studios, a whole-ass reboot in mid-2023, a delay into 2026 with an unexplained title change, and honestly: Why is it so hard to make a game you already made 20 years ago?

Anyway, I re-litigate all of this because it amuses me to do so, but also because the events leading up to today's seemingly random missive on social media also have a timeline explaining why Ubisoft would just put this out for no apparent reason, which we will now dive into.

It begins on June 9, with the appearance of an ominous message: "Something is lurking in these waters," words made even more noteworthy because of their appearance one year, almost to the day, after Ubisoft's most recent Sands of Time update, the one where the "Remake" part of the title was dropped. Exciting stuff for those who noticed, but not many noticed because the message was quickly deleted.

This guy noticed, though.

It turned out the message that got Sands of Time hopefuls all worked up was in fact intended for the For Honor account, to tease the reveal of the next season:

Ubisoft copped to the whiff in short order.

Unfortunately, it didn't help calm things down: Some fans were convinced Ubisoft really did have something to show, others begged for anything, and a few seemed to have simply reached their limit with the whole thing:

Which brings us to today's update, posted just shy of a week after everything went sideways with a For Honor tease.

"Yep, we’re still deep in the game—exploring, building, and ensuring the sands move with purpose," Ubisoft wrote. "This game is being crafted by a team that truly cares, and they're pouring their hearts (and a lot of coffee) into every step. Thank you for sticking with us.

"While development continues behind the scenes, there’s another adventure waiting for you right now: The Rogue Prince of Persia—fast, stylish, and built with the same dedication."

So there you have it: Yes, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is still in development, and no, there's nothing to see here but a social media guy who probably didn't have the best weekend ever. Sorry.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time does not have a release date yet, but for now it remains on target for sometime in 2026. We'll see.

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