Actress Eman Ayaz has stated she’s misplaced three years of labor in a “life-changing position,” simply days after Ubisoft canceled its long-awaited Prince of Persia: Sands of Time Remake.
“So hello, my title is Eman, I am an actor, and final week I skilled essentially the most devastating second of my profession,” Ayaz stated in a video message posted on-line as we speak. “I am nonetheless underneath NDA so I will attempt my greatest to talk as vaguely as potential concerning the particulars, and I hope you perceive.”
At no level does Ayaz particularly say the sport she labored on was Prince of Persia: Sands of Time Remake, however the actress has additionally retweeted feedback from those that have linked her to the position of Farah within the sport, seemingly making the connection clear.
Essentially the most devastating second of my appearing profession: https://t.co/ZzbWftGL1t
— Eman Ayaz (@emanayazz) January 26, 2026
“Three years in the past I booked a life-changing position on a life-changing venture,” Ayaz started. “It was a rigorous audition course of, together with a self-tape audition, an in-person callback, and a chemistry learn that I needed to fly out of town for. Once I bought the position I bear in mind crying my eyes out.
“I’ve spent the final three years attending to know the crew which has develop into like a household to me. I’ve watched it develop by way of numerous levels of improvement and I’ve waited and waited for it to lastly be launched so I may discuss it. And this week, I discovered by way of the web that the venture was canceled.”
Ayaz says she was first contacted by her brother who had seen the information of the sport’s cancelation by way of a web based article. Ubisoft confirmed it had canned its Prince of Persia: The Sans of Time Remake final week, as a part of a wider reorganization that featured layoffs at three improvement studios, the closure of two extra, and the shutdown of 5 different sport tasks.
“I used to be in whole shock,” Ayaz continued. “Simply two months in the past I filmed advertising and marketing for this venture, every thing had been operating easily and that was the final I had heard. We had been all trying ahead to it being launched this 12 months, so it felt like an emotional whiplash to instantly discover this out in such a random means.”
Certainly, a report late final 12 months prompt Ubisoft’s Prince of Persia: Sands of Time Remake was lastly only a few months away, after first being introduced in 2020. The venture was then rebooted, with its most up-to-date incarnation having been in improvement since early 2023.
“Once I initially booked this position, what it stated to me was that each one the sacrifices I had made, going in opposition to my dad and mom’ recommendation, pursuing my goals, all of the heartbreaks I might had alongside the best way, all of the shut calls, all of the rejections, they lastly had added as much as one thing,” Ayaz added, discussing the non-public toll the cancelation had taken.
Ayaz stated she’d turned down different job oppurtunities throughout the course of and labored on the job whereas recovering from an damage as she had been obsessed with not lacking out. “It was the most effective efficiency of my profession, and now nobody will ever see it.”
A Canadian citizen, Ayaz stated she had deliberate to use for a U.S. work visa primarily based on having the sport on her CV, one thing she will not do as she is unable to formally acknowledge her work on it. And as somebody with Pakistani heritage, Ayaz stated the cancelation had been one more setback after working “twice as onerous as non-marginalized actors to seek out house within the business.” She added: “It is an upward battle and it may proceed to be that means. It is such as you assume you had your foot on a ledge, and it is crumbled. And it’s important to begin once more, and it is simply as steep.”
For its half, Ubisoft informed Prince of Persia followers that regardless of six years of labor, the sport was nonetheless too distant from being able to fund any additional. “We weren’t capable of attain the extent of high quality you deserve,” the corporate stated in an announcement, “and persevering with would have required extra time and funding than we may responsibly commit.”
“Sadly the leisure business is not nearly leisure,” Ayaz concluded, “it is about guaranteeing a money circulate. And which means making selections that deal with individuals’s lives as collateral injury, and artwork as disposable content material… This venture existed, even when the world by no means bought to see it. So many gifted artists devoted numerous hours to make this occur. And that does not simply disappear, it will be in our hearts eternally, as fricking corny as that sounds… The one means these tales survive is that if the viewers calls for them.”
Tom Phillips is IGN’s Information Editor. You may attain Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or discover him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
