The sands are finally starting to settle around Prince of Persia: Sands of Time Remake, and the latest whispers suggest that the long-delayed project is now targeting a mid-January 2026 launch on PC and consoles. After years of silence, mixed messaging, and one famously rough first reveal, it looks like Ubisoft is preparing to bring back one of its most beloved action-adventure games just as the series quietly returns to relevance.
How solid is the January 2026 leak?
The current release window comes from Insider Gaming s latest podcast, where well-known reporter and leaker Tom Henderson mentioned that Ubisoft is planning to drop the remake in the middle of January 2026. 
Henderson has a long history of accurately outing Ubisoft projects before they are officially announced, which immediately gives this rumor more weight than the usual anonymous forum post or recycled social media speculation.
Internally, you could file this one very high on the credibility scale. Looking at the track record of the source, the state of the project, and Ubisoft s broader release calendar, a January launch lines up almost perfectly. If we scored rumors on a percentage meter, this would sit somewhere around the mid-90s: extremely likely but still vulnerable to the usual last-minute delays that haunt big-budget releases.
Our rumor barometer at a glance
- 0–20 percent: Highly doubtful, little or no credible sourcing.
- 21–40 percent: Questionable, important pieces do not add up.
- 41–60 percent: Plausible but unproven, worth keeping an eye on.
- 61–80 percent: Probable, backed by several solid signals.
- 81–100 percent: Very likely, supported by strong sources and a believable timeline.
For Sands of Time Remake, the indicators are stacked. The source reliability is close to a perfect score, corroboration from Ubisoft s previously announced early 2026 window is strong, and there are no obvious technical blockers left, especially after the rebooted development crossed a key milestone in late 2023. The timeline feels like a natural landing zone rather than a risky stretch target.
A remake that stumbled before finding its footing
The journey to this point has been anything but graceful. Ubisoft first announced Prince of Persia: Sands of Time Remake back in September 2020, promising a fresh take on the 2003 classic with an early 2021 release. What fans received instead was a trailer that looked strangely dated, sparking a wave of memes and criticism about visuals that felt several generations behind. The reveal became a textbook example of how to drain excitement from a cherished brand in just a couple of minutes of footage.
Not long after that first showing, in February 2021, the project was delayed indefinitely. For months, communication was minimal, which only fueled the perception that the publisher had badly mishandled a treasured series. Players joked that Ubisoft had already used the dagger of time but somehow rewound things into an even worse timeline. It was not until 2022 that Ubisoft finally clarified what had happened: development had effectively been restarted, with the project moving to Ubisoft Montreal, the studio that created the original Sands of Time.
In November 2023, the company confirmed that a significant internal milestone had been achieved, signalling that the rebooted version was finally taking shape. This May, Ubisoft quietly locked in an early 2026 release window. Seen together, those steps sketch a clear arc from damage control to recovery. From that perspective, a January 2026 date no longer sounds surprising at all; it reads like the natural end point of a long, messy, but ultimately controlled rebuild.
Ubisoft s one month marketing sprint
One of the more interesting details from Henderson s comments is not just when the remake might launch, but how it could be marketed. According to his information, Ubisoft is planning a short, sharp campaign that lasts roughly one month. That kind of compressed timeline suggests confidence in the strength of the brand and in the gameplay footage they plan to show; it also reflects a growing industry trend of shorter promo cycles instead of multi-year hype trains that exhaust everyone before the game even ships.
If the plan holds, the most logical place for a re-reveal would be The Game Awards, where millions of players would see the game at the exact moment Ubisoft needs maximum visibility. Failing that, the publisher could simply drop a new trailer on YouTube and social channels with little warning, letting word of mouth do the rest. Either way, do not expect a drawn-out drip-feed of cryptic teasers and dev diaries. This sounds more like a quick flash of the dagger, then straight into launch.
Prince of Persia s quiet comeback
The rumored remake does not arrive in a vacuum. After a long stretch where the franchise seemed almost abandoned, Prince of Persia has made a careful return over the last two years. Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown, released in January 2024, pushed the series back toward its 2D roots with agile platforming and tight combat that won over critics and a chunk of the fanbase. It reminded people that the name still stood for clever level design and stylish movement, not just a relic from the early 2000s.
Then, in August, The Rogue Prince of Persia layered roguelike structure onto side-scrolling action, leaning into replayability and experimentation. It played with the universe in a looser, more playful way, inviting runs rather than linear progression. If Sands of Time Remake does indeed land in early 2026, it would be the third major entry in a relatively short span, effectively turning a dormant brand into a busy one again. It also creates an interesting arc: two modern 2D interpretations paving the way for a fully rebuilt 3D adventure that originally defined the series for an entire generation of players.
Fans split between nostalgia and suspicion
Among long-time followers, reactions to the new release window are complicated. Many players still adore the original 2003 game and say they are perfectly happy dusting off an old PC copy or console disc instead of gambling on a remake that already had one very public misstep. The first reveal left such a sour taste that some fans joke they will stay in the comfort timeline, replaying the original campaign on their old hardware while the remake tries to prove it deserves to exist.
There is also a lingering fear that, beneath the faithful remastering, the publisher might be tempted to chase modern trends a little too hard, whether that means cosmetic packs, cross-promo skins, or other add-ons that feel out of place in such a story-driven classic. Memes about Ubisoft wanting to monetise anything that moves have not exactly helped that perception. At the same time, the news that Ubisoft Montreal is now leading the project has given a lot of fans cautious hope. If any team can recapture the mood, pacing, and melancholy charm of the original Sands of Time, it is the studio that built it in the first place.
What to expect from the remake
Official details are still limited, but a modern remake of Sands of Time almost certainly aims to deliver updated visuals, smoother animations, and far more responsive combat and camera controls. Accessibility options, richer difficulty settings, and quality-of-life tweaks such as better checkpointing, clearer platforming cues, and improved camera behaviour are all safe bets. The time-rewind mechanic that defined the original will likely remain at the heart of the experience, but wrapped in modern visual effects and audio design that can properly sell the fantasy of bending time in the middle of a chaotic fight.
The real challenge will be enhancing the experience without losing the fragile balance between acrobatics, puzzle-solving, and time-rewinding spectacle that made the original feel so special. Sands of Time was not just about flashy parkour; it was about rhythm, flow, and a bittersweet story wrapped around a confident narrator. If Ubisoft nails that balance, the remake could do more than simply remind people how good Sands of Time once was; it could re-establish Prince of Persia as a flagship franchise, not just a nostalgia brand. If it misses the mark, though, the community will not hesitate to say they preferred to keep their memories intact with the untouched original.
Verdict: almost certainly real, but still waiting on the reveal
Taking all the signals together, a mid-January 2026 launch for Prince of Persia: Sands of Time Remake looks highly credible, even if nothing is truly locked until Ubisoft stamps a date on a trailer. A major development milestone has already been cleared, the early 2026 window is public, and the current leak fits neatly inside that frame. For now, the dagger of time hovers just above the hourglass: the remake is closer than ever, but we are still waiting for that official moment when the sands start flowing again.