Ubisoft torches Prince of Persia after huge layoffs, and even the Black Flag remake is waterlogged

Ubisoft is undergoing a major restructuring that has led to the cancellation of the Prince of Persia: Sands of Time remake and a reported delay of the Black Flag remake. Two whole studios have been closed, too, as the company has performed huge layoffs.

This news, first reported by IGN, comes after many had speculated that both of these remakes were just around the corner. However, it turns out that six projects in total will never see the light of day, including the Prince of Persia: Sands of Time remake. The Black Flag one is presumably still on the way, though it’ll likely be impacted and delayed (alongside several other titles) amid this development.

Two full studios will be closed down: Ubisoft Stockholm, which contributed to Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, and Ubisoft Halifax, which focuses on mobile games. Many other studios across the world saw downsizing and staff restructurings, among other changes.

As IGN reports, these changes come amid a shift in Ubisoft’s focus and the implementation of a new development pipeline. The company certainly has seen better days, but perhaps this new approach could result in more high-quality games down the line.

One should hope so, at least, though I’m sorely disappointed by the cancellation of the PoP remake. But, if that means the Black Flag one will end up being better, then perhaps there’s something to be gained here.

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It has now been a week since Hytale emerged from the dead and entered into its early access program, finally giving its fans a taste of this long-awaited experience. It’s already receiving praise across the board, despite its rather limited (and reasonably so) content breadth, and its creator couldn’t be happier.

“It’s now been seven days since early access launch and I can confidently say that I have no regrets [for] saving Hytale,” said the game’s original creator Simon Collins-Laflamme on X, who sold the IP to Riot Games and bought it back from the company last November. “It’s been the most challenging but rewarding experience of my life,” he added.

Collins-Laflamme went on to thank everyone who has participated in the early access launch thus far, and especially highlighted the Hytale development team that managed to bring the game from near-death to a playable, early-access-ready state in just a couple of months.

The title truly has had a wild ride. It was first announced in late 2018, but would end up in development hell for seven long years. All sorts of issues bogged down its development before it was eventually cancelled, with Collins-Laflamme stepping in to try and save it from demise. He would succeed by November 2025, and end up bringing the game to eager fans by mid-January.

That’s a Biblical journey if there ever was one, and I’m glad to see it doing so well.

Cool concepts, ideas, and innovations that strive to break the monotony and dominance of single entities (in this case Minecraft) only stand to make all our lives better, so it would have been a tremendous loss for everyone if Hytale wound up as just “the game that could.”

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