Report - Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time Remake Debacle Was A Classic Case Of Ambition Over Ability

thegamer.com:

I remember the first time I visited the Ubisoft Pune studio in India, barely a year into games journalism as a career. I knew the studio would be nowhere as massive as say, Ubisoft Montreal, but it was still part of one of the largest developers in the world. Pune functioned mainly in a support role to the bigger studios – for example, working on environmental assets for Far Cry 5. The largest project it had undertaken in terms of scope was its supporting role in Steep.

Then came Ubisoft Mumbai in 2018; it looked like the suits had taken a liking to Pune and decided to expand. Eventually, the announcement was made – Ubisoft Pune and Mumbai would together remake Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. As a video game reporter living in India, I couldn't help but feel proud that the country was finally getting a chance to prove that it's got what it takes to handle a legacy IP like Prince of Persia. We've had indie standouts like Raji and Asura before, but this was the big leagues – this felt like India’s shot.

As we know however, Ubisoft India didn't quite get the fairy tale ending it had hoped for. As things currently stand, Ubisoft Montreal has taken over development after several delays and long periods of radio silence, silence ended by what seemed to be a very public castigation of the Indian team as Ubisoft unceremoniously ripped Prince of Persia away from it. But how did it get to this? According to a former Ubisoft India employee, who spoke to me under condition of anonymity, it all started with a classic case of ambition over ability.

Jean-Philippe Pieuchot, the studio head for Pune, essentially set up and overlooked both the India studios while constantly shuttling between them. I have met him personally a few