Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Developer(s)	Ubisoft Montreal
Publisher(s)	Ubisoft
Director(s)	Patrice Désilets
Producer(s)	Yannis Mallat
Designer(s)	Jordan Mechner
Programmer(s)	Claude Langlais
Artist(s)	Raphaël Lacoste
Writer(s)	Jordan Mechner
Composer(s)	Stuart Chatwood
Series	Prince of Persia
Engine	Jade
Platform(s)	Game Boy Advance PlayStation 2 GameCube Xbox Windows Mobile
Release	Game Boy Advance NA: 28 October 2003 EU: 14 November 2003 PlayStation 2 NA: 11 November 2003 EU: 21 November 2003 Xbox NA: 11 November 2003 EU: 20 February 2004 GameCube NA: 18 November 2003 EU: 20 February 2004 Mobile NA: 21 November 2003 Microsoft Windows NA: 2 December 2003 EU: 5 December 2003
Genre(s)	Action-adventure, platform
Mode(s)	Single-player

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time is a 2003 action-adventure game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. The game was released on the Game Boy Advance, PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox and Windows in November 2003. The Sands of Time is a reboot of the Prince of Persia series created by Jordan Mechner. Mechner served as creative consultant, designer, and scenario writer for The Sands of Time.

The game follows an unnamed Prince whose father sacks an ancient city at the instigation of a traitorous Vizier. During the attack, the Prince obtains an artifact called the Dagger of Time, while his father's army captures an hourglass containing the mysterious Sands of Time. Visiting the palace of the Sultan of Azad to present the Sands as a gift, the Vizier tricks the Prince into releasing the Sands, transforming the people of Azad into savage monsters under his control. Together with Farah, a young Princess who knows the power of the Sands, the Prince works to correct his mistake and foil the Vizier's evil plans. The gameplay revolves around the Prince's platforming abilities, broken up by fights with the creatures created by the Sands. A key mechanic in the game is using the Dagger to rewind time if the Prince makes a mistake while platforming and use it to kill and freeze enemies.

Concept work began in spring of 2001, after Ubisoft acquired the Prince of Persia catalog. After Mechner was brought on board, production began in June of that year. After the initial story draft was scrapped as it was too complex, the team began with four guiding concepts, including the ability to rewind time: this idea grew into the Dagger, the Sands, and the various powers related to them. Mechner's script drew inspiration from the Shahnameh, with the main focus on creating a simple narrative that worked with the pace of gameplay. The game used Ubisoft's Jade engine, originally designed for Beyond Good & Evil, another game published by the company. Production was troubled, with the team facing problems with the engine structure and delays with environment assets, while also managing to create an effective tester network to seek out the game's bugs. In 2004, a version for mobile phones was developed and published in North America by Gameloft.

Upon release, it received critical acclaim, being nominated for and winning numerous awards and has been recognized by many as one of the greatest video games ever made. Sales of the title were initially slow, but it eventually became a commercial success. Its success prompted the development of a sequel, Prince of Persia: Warrior Within, which was released in November 2004. Further games set in the Sands of Time continuity have been developed, and is generally cited as the reason for the Prince of Persia series' return to fame. As of 2014, the game has sold over 14 million copies worldwide, across all platforms. A remake is currently in development.

On Monday 10 June 2024, during its Ubisoft Forward event in Los Angeles, Ubisoft revealed a short cinematic confirming that the Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time remake project was still in active development, with a new release window of 2026.^[1]