Voice actress Eman Ayaz shared a heartbreaking account of discovering through the internet that a major game project she’d been working on was canceled. She filmed marketing material for it just two months earlier.
The most devastating moment of my acting career: https://t.co/ZzbWftGL1t
— Eman Ayaz (@emanayazz) January 26, 2026
Ayaz posted a statement describing how she booked what she called a “life-changing role on a life-changing project” roughly three years ago. The audition process included multiple rounds: a self-tape, an in-person callback, and a chemistry read that required travel.
Over the following years, she worked with the development team through “countless stages of development.” She said the team became “like a family” and she eagerly waited for release so she could finally talk about her work publicly.
Then came the shock. “This week, I found out through the internet that the project was canceled,” Ayaz wrote. The timing made it especially brutal. Just two months earlier, she had filmed marketing content for the game. Everything seemed to be running smoothly. The team believed the game would release within the year.
Ayaz said she felt “emotional whiplash.” She described it as the best performance of her career and lamented that “no one will ever see it.”
While Ayaz didn’t name the project in her statement, the timing and details strongly point to Ubisoft’s Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake. The game has been in troubled development for years with multiple delays and studio shifts.
Industry reporter Tom Henderson claimed the remake had an original release date of January 16, which was then pushed to late March for polish before being canceled. Another leaker suggested the game still needed significant work even close to its supposed release window.
The cancellation hits especially hard for voice actors. Even when paid for their sessions, a canceled project means no portfolio credit and no public visibility. Those samples are crucial for landing future roles.
The human cost of game development
Ayaz framed the decision as a business reality. Entertainment companies make choices based on cash flow, and sometimes that means treating people’s work as disposable. She noted that projects like hers only survive if audiences demand them.
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time originally released in 2003 and remains one of Ubisoft’s most acclaimed titles. The remake was announced years ago but became notorious for delays and shifting between Ubisoft studios. Early reveals raised quality concerns, and the project went silent for long stretches.
