The game looked like ass in the original trailer. It was supposed to be almost-ready so those graphics were clearly almost final if they were shown in a major event.
Clearly the backlash was intense.
As for cultural appropriation - nobody would say that about Ubisoft, these guys make AC across the world and always put the "multicultural team" disclaimer in front. The whole point should be moot after one of the best games of last year - Ghost of Tsushima - was made by a largely North American devs and received a ridiculous amount of praise in Japan while uberwoke idiot journalists who complained about "misrepresentation" were eating crow.
Prince of Persia is a seminal game - it was a great trilogy in its own right, it popularized time-reversal, ledge-grabbing (remember how tricky and finicky Tomb Raider used to be compared to PoP?), it basically spawned Assassin't Creed and thereforeit frankly deserves better and I'm happy Ubi giving it time and hopefully budget to release in a good state hopefully with next-gen enhancements in tow.