Prince of Persia's creator reacts to Ubisoft's cancellation of The Sands of Time remake: 'Having a project killed is a brutal experience'

Short of someone actually inventing a magical time-manipulating dagger, we now know that the long-awaited remake of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time will never see the light of day. Developer and publisher Ubisoft revealed it killed the project, alleged to have been nearly complete, in the latter half of January, as part of a brutal round of layoffs and restructuring that triggered calls for a "massive international strike" by multiple French trade unions.

Now, Prince of Persia's original creator has addressed the cancellation, calling it "disappointing news to all fans who'd been eagerly awaiting it, myself included."

Jordan Mechner, who developed the original Prince of Persia in 1989 and was a designer on The Sands of Time (but not the remake) shared his thoughts in a blog post. After initially expressing his disappointment, he went on to share his sympathies with the developers directly affected by the cancellation.

"My sympathy goes to the development team in Montreal; I can only imagine how they must feel. 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."

Mechner noted that cancellations like this can be "particularly devastating for younger team members" who don't have a lot of experience in the industry. "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."

The cancellation certainly seems to have caused plenty of justifiable upset, and not just among core team members. Eman Ayaz, an actor who not only lent her voice to the game but had also recently done marketing work for it, described the cancellation as "the most devastating moment of my career."

Although the remake's cancellation is a painful blow, especially after such a long wait, Mechner says he believes "the long term outlook gives reason to hope". He points out that Prince of Persia has enjoyed a strong couple of years, thanks to the release of Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown and The Rogue Prince of Persia. "The community of fans and developers that's grown up around the prince holds an unquenchable spring of passion, talent and determination."

I do think sentiment slightly sidesteps how both those games performed. The Lost Crown was a commercial disappointment for Ubisoft, which disbanded the team shortly after launch. While there aren't any sales figures for The Rogue Prince of Persia, its player concurrents are significantly lower than The Lost Crown.

That said, when the cancellation was announced Ubisoft claimed the decision "does not mean we're stepping away from the franchise." This could simply be an attempt to placate fans with no real substance behind it. On the other hand, Mechner seems to keep a close eye on the series he created, so perhaps he knows something we don't.