Ubisoft is one of gaming's more prolific publishers thanks to bestselling games like Far Cry, Rainbow Six Siege, and Watch Dogs, but despite a long history of games like Rayman and Splinter Cell, many of these haven't gotten new game announcements and aren't on the active roster in 2021. In the latter case, many can't fathom why Sam Fisher's last full adventure took place almost a decade ago. The single-player stealth adventures were on top of the world during the era of the original Xbox, but Ubisoft hasn't shown much interest in trying it again on Xbox Series X. Unfortunately, it's not just a case of cruel indifference, as there are several factors that make the prospect of a brand new Splinter Cell feel like a lost cause.
It's important to clarify that Splinter Cell is one branch of the larger Tom Clancy franchise for Ubisoft, a series of realistic military games based on the works of the late author. Sam Fisher lives in the same universe as the agents of The Division, Ghost Recon, and Rainbow Six. While Ghost Recon Breakpoint was a commercial disappointment for the publisher, Ubisoft still has developers supporting the latest entries in all three franchises with DLC and updates. It's possible that a new Splinter Cell game announcement would have trouble coinciding with these existing franchises, and the nature of the series alone could make that unpopular among Ubisoft's higher-ups.
The one thing that Splinter Cell likely can't offer that most other Tom Clancy series can is an ongoing live service and constant revenue. All three current Tom Clancy games receive seasonal updates while offering cosmetic and other DLC purchases. They're also all focused on some form of multiplayer, be it co-op or competitive. This has been a focus across Ubisoft's catalog for many years at this point, and a straightforward single-player game continuing Sam Fisher's story just doesn't fit neatly into that box. The publisher would be more likely to base a game around Splinter Cell's Spies vs. Mercs mode at this point, but why make a whole new game when it can be a weekend event in Rainbow Six Siege instead?
Ubisoft certainly isn't blind to the public clamoring for another Splinter Cell adventure, and it's using that movement to try to push fans to other Tom Clancy experiences. Sam Fisher joined Rainbow Six Siege as one of the dozens of playable heroes, and his kit features several references to Splinter Cell. Before that, Fisher showed up as the anchor for a DLC to Ghost Recon Wildlands, marking the return of Sam's original voice actor after one game away. On the mobile games front, Fisher's iconic goggles are in the advertising for Tom Clancy's Elite Squad, a tactics game that mashes together characters from across Ubisoft's various Tom Clancy experiences.
This is all in addition to an upcoming animated show on Netflix that will reportedly jump between a modern adventure and Sam Fisher's origins. Ubisoft has almost as many entertainment properties in the works as it has games, and it's here that Splinter Cell and Sam Fisher fans might be able to get the most authentic experience. Watching a TV show is obviously very different from playing a video game, but it's also a medium that's focused on telling stories with endings rather than stringing people along for years with new content and repeatable gameplay loops. Outside of high-profile collaborations with Nintendo for Mario + Rabbids and Disney for Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, the entire Ubisoft lineup is laser-focused on gameplay experiences far outside of Splinter Cell's solitary stealth-based action.
When Ubisoft president Yves Guillemot said that Splinter Cell wasn't dead back in 2019, it's likely that he was talking more about Sam Fisher's continued presence in Tom Clancy games rather than potential new game announcements for the series. Any games featuring Sam Fisher in the near future (like the rumored Tom Clancy mashup with The Division codenamed BattleCat) will likely follow the same service-game formula. It's a hard pill to swallow for fans of the franchise, but at least the best man of the Third Echelon seems poised to continue mixing it up in Ubisoft's wide universe of Tom Clancy games and media.
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July 15, 2021 at 12:19AM
