Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time remake won't be shown at E3 or launch this year

The remake for Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time currently in development at Ubisoft won't be shown at the publisher's E3 2021 showcase. 

"As you might have guessed, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake will not be in Ubisoft Forward," the remake's development team said in a tweet. "We are making great progress for our game to release next year, but we are not ready to share any additional information just yet. We will share an update as soon as we are ready." 

The Ubisoft E3 2021 lineup was revealed just last week, and the Sands of Time remake was conspicuously absent. The last time we actually saw the game was its September 2020 reveal, which sparked a bit of pushback about its new art style (which, the developers said at the time, was deliberate and not a product of development woes). 

The remake was delayed to March 2021 not long after, and back in February, it was delayed once again, this time without a new release date in mind. The news that it's skipping E3 has also brought affirmation that the remake won't be out until sometime in 2022. 

With the E3 2021 schedule still feeling very scattershot, publishers have been more prompt about setting expectations for what will and won't be at their shows, and while we would've loved to see the Prince of Persia remake in action once more, it's nice to have the record straight on what Ubisoft's bringing. Better to rip the bandage off in one go than drag it out, you know? 

Besides, the Ubisoft E3 2021 show still looks fairly stacked. Far Cry 6 and Rainbow Six Extraction (formerly known as Rainbow Six Quarantine) have been confirmed, and among the surprises, we're expecting to hear more about the future of The Division 2 plus the series' upcoming F2P spinoff The Division: Heartland, and perhaps some new IP as well. 

As our own Josh West writes, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time once defined a genre we've come to know and love, and it deserves a full-fat remake. Last year, game director Pierre Sylvain-Gires walked us through Ubisoft's vision for the classic's return.