Key Highlights:
- Ubisoft has cancelled 6 in-development games, including its Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time remake.
- Two studios are closing, seven other titles are delayed and staff are being ordered back to the office.
- The move is part of a major strategic reset aimed at refocusing on open world and live service games.
Ubisoft has confirmed a sweeping restructuring effort that cancels six games, shutters studios, delays multiple projects and effectively writes off its long-running Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time remake. Described by CEO Yves Guillemot as a “major reset”, the move is intended to slim down Ubisoft’s pipeline and prioritise brands that can deliver long-term financial returns. Investors did not take the news well, with Ubisoft’s share price dropping by over 30 percent following the announcement.
The closures affect Ubisoft Stockholm and Halifax, with additional restructuring planned for Abu Dhabi, RedLynx and Massive. Four of the cancelled games were unannounced new IPs, while another was an unannounced mobile title. Sands of Time is the only named project on the chopping block despite having a narrowed release window between January and March 2026.
That cancellation is particularly surprising given how valuable remakes and remasters have been recently, from Super Mario Galaxy and Metal Gear Solid 3 to Oblivion. We even reported a couple of weeks ago that it could be shadow dropped this month, but that’s not gonna happen now.
Guillemot framed the overhaul as a response to rising development costs and an increasingly selective AAA market. Ubisoft now wants to concentrate on open world adventure games and live service titles, areas that can generate recurring revenue. Tencent-backed Vantage Studios will focus on turning Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry and Rainbow Six into “annual billionaire brands”, which lines up with Ubisoft’s recent emphasis on subscription models and long-tail multiplayer.
From what I’ve seen over the past few years, Ubisoft has struggled to manage a vast slate of projects across too many teams and too many experimental pivots. Cutting half a dozen titles and delaying seven more shows how aggressively the company is now tightening scope. IGN also reported that employees are being mandated back to office work five days a week, with only a limited remote allowance. Ubisoft has not specified how many jobs are affected, and it is unclear how this will impact shipped games or live service support in the short term.
On a creative level, losing Sands of Time hurts. The original 2003 release revitalised Prince of Persia and influenced a generation of action games. To see its remake cancelled as part of a cost-focused rationalisation speaks to how far the remake/remaster boom has shifted. Ubisoft’s priority is no longer nostalgia play, but scalability, and in that context Sands of Time did not survive the cut.
The immediate future looks turbulent. Ubisoft expects its financials to take a hit in 2026 and 2027 as the portfolio refocus unfolds, but the publisher insists the reset will lead to sustainable growth afterwards. Whether it can execute that plan without burning through talent or alienating fans is the question that now hangs over the next few years.