On May 24, Ubisoft quietly revealed in a newly updated Prince of Persia FAQ that development on the project has seemingly started completely over, writing that that game—which was supposed to be out in 2021—is now in the “conception phase.” The studio is also apparently “building up the team” that will develop the game while working on early prototypes of it. That all seems to imply that the original remake was mostly or even completely tossed out and Ubisoft Montréal has gone back to the drawing board to start over.

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Here’s Ubisoft’s full statement from the FAQ page:

With Ubisoft Montréal taking over the development of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake, the game is currently in the conception phase. As part of this early stage of development the studio is building up the team, defining priorities, developing prototypes, and testing gameplay elements.

Kotaku has reached out to Ubisoft about the remake.

In a Ubisoft News blog post published Wednesday, the remake’s producer, Jean-Francois Naud, further elaborated on the current state of the game’s development, saying that it’s “still in an early stage” and reiterating what the FAQ says, that the team is being built and gameplay is being prototyped. Naud also confirmed that fans won’t hear more about the remake in 2023.

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While it’s possible the game hasn’t completely restarted development from scratch, it’s not a great sign that this already-troubled project that has seen multiple delays is still being prototyped and that the team for it isn’t even fully in place yet. If you were hoping to play this new Sands of Time remake anytime soon, well, I wouldn’t hold your breath.

And just in case you were wondering, Ubisoft confirms in the updated FAQ that, no, it isn’t working on any other Prince of Persia remakes, and doesn’t have plans to. Considering how the Sands of Time remake is going, that’s probably for the best.

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