No documentation and AC engine: what went wrong with Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time remake

Ubisoft India, which was the original team behind Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake, has reportedly faced multiple struggles during the development. The studio had little experience and received almost no documentation from Ubisoft.

Journalist Rishi Alwani published the article on his 0451 Games blog, citing multiple anonymous sources at Ubisoft India.

Here are the key takeaways from the report:

• India-based team hasn’t received proper documentation from Ubisoft, so they had to make all levels from scratch by themselves;
• Ubisoft forced developers to use the Anvil Engine, which was previously used in Assassin’s Creed Origins;
• This resulted in “janky, odd animations,” as the heavy frame of Bayek from Origins didn’t fit the Prince’s smooth and lanky character;
• Game director Pierre-Sylvain Gires didn’t have any game development experience prior to working on the Prince of Persia remake and was later moved to the Riders Republic team;
• Ubisoft handed the game to outsourcing studio Electric Square after players criticized the reveal trailer;
• Eventually, the company decided to give the Sands of Time remake into the hands of Ubisoft Montreal, which created the original game;
• Jean-Philippe Pieuchot, who was the managing director of Ubisoft India at the time, wanted to use this project as a chance to turn India into a “AAA game development hub”;
• However, all the issues mentioned above led to Ubisoft moving its Indian offices back to quality assurance and live operations instead of full scale development;
• On top of that, Ubisoft reportedly had “zero oversight” of the project until the first public reveal.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake, which is now being developed by Ubisoft Montreal, still has no release date.