An early prototype build of Ubisoft’s Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake has apparently been leaked online.
The leaked PS4 prototype of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake has appeared on preservation site Hidden Palace (via princeozzyX on Twitter/X), originating from development work carried out by Ubisoft Pune and Ubisoft Mumbai during 2020 and 2021. According to the accompanied information, the build’s serial is CUSA18521, confirming that it is USA-region code. It is described as a preload build, a version of the game that would have been downloaded ahead of release so players may begin playing as soon as it is unlocked. However, it is entirely encrypted, making it completely unplayable in its current state.
The prototype allegedly came from a user’s personal hard drive. During a brief window prior to the game’s original 2021 release date, Ubisoft accidentally enabled PS4 the game’s pre-load. The user apparently managed to download the build during this error and stored it on an external hard drive, from which it was only recently recovered.
The recovered archive contains a single PKG file weighing in at approximately 13 GB. Unfortunately for preservationists, the vast majority of the data remains locked behind encryption. Without the necessary passcode, the build cannot be decrypted, and doing so would require an impractical brute-force approach. That said, the Hidden Palace page contains all those files that are not encrypted, including an image which suggests the game supported remote play through the PSVita.
Recently, details on the Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time remake surfaced through a series of posts from Reddit user SocramVelmar, who worked on the canceled project. Engaging directly with fans, the developer offered insight into the game’s troubled development, creative ambitions, and the factors that ultimately led to its cancellation. According to them, there was no single, unified creative vision guiding the project. Read about it here.
