Jordan Mechner designed the Prince of Persia video game franchise. It is based on a series of action-adventure games set in ancient and medieval Iran and features many incarnations of the eponymous Prince.

Broderbund published the first two games in the series, Prince of Persia and Prince of Persia 2: The Shadow and the Flame. On the PC, Red Orb Entertainment and The Learning Company released Prince of Persia 3D; Avalanche Software and Mattel Interactive released the Dreamcast version, which was produced by Avalanche Software and marketed by Mattel Interactive. With Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Ubisoft began developing and releasing games in the franchise in 2003.

A film version based on The Sands of Time, written in part by Mechner and produced by Walt Disney Pictures in 2010, a graphic novel, and the Lego Prince of Persia toyline are also part of the series. The Assassin's Creed franchise from Ubisoft is often regarded as the game's spiritual successor.

The remake of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time was announced in 2020 with a release date of 2021, which was later pushed back to 2022, then 2023. Ubisoft did it again today, announcing that the game will "no longer be released in FY23."Rumors that the project had been canceled prompted Ubisoft to issue a statement, which was prompted by claims that Gamestop and Amazon had ceased processing preorders for the game and had even delisted it for several platforms. The Sands of Time Remake has struggled, but the rumored cancellation came just a month after Ubisoft announced that development had been moved from its Pune and Mumbai studios to Ubisoft Montreal(opens in new tab), something it wouldn't have bothered with if the game was that close to cancellation.

"As a result, the game has been delisted and we are no longer targeting an FY23 release. Players should contact their retailer if they want to cancel their preorder. They will be kept informed about the initiative as it progresses."the developer proclaimed. Preorder listings for the planned remake were removed from stores like GameStop and Amazon earlier Friday, sparking speculation that the game had been scrapped outright.

17 years ago, the mystery of the Sands of Time were revealed. Happy anniversary to one of our favorite adventures with the Prince of Persia! ⏳ pic.twitter.com/XHfhFFjW7w

— Prince of Persia (@princeofpersia) October 28, 2020

Although no new release date has been specified, The Sands of Time Remake could yet be released in 2023: The company's fiscal year 2022-23 concludes on March 31, 2023, therefore it might miss that deadline and yet make the calendar year 2023. The fact that it's being delisted from merchants, on the other hand, indicates a lengthy wait—enough to lead me to believe that development is being restarted from the ground up.