A new report reveals that Ubisoft is still developing its Splinter Cell Remake, which it announced back in December 2021.
A screenshot from Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell (2003), Ubisoft
Mike Straw at Insider Gaming reports that the game is being developed under the codename North and is still being developed in the Snowdrop Engine, which was announced back in 2021 alongside the game. He would also add that a source informed him that Ubisoft is aiming to release the game in 2026 “but didn’t want to be held to that time frame.
Ubisoft used its Snowdrop Engine for the recently released Star Wars Outlaws as well as Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora and Tom Clancy’s The Division 2.
A screenshot from Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell (2003), Ubisoft
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Straw’s reporting comes in the wake of Brazilian YouTuber tvPH claiming that an insider informed him that the Splinter Cell Remake was facing internal struggles.
Using YouTube’s translation function, he stated, “Internally, they pushed this project further because something inside wasn’t paying attention either. And proof of this is the fact that Ubisoft, as is usually done with these franchises that have been dormant for a while and are about to return, Ubisoft planned to release a remaster a game from the Splinter Cell franchise in 2024 in preparation for the arrival of this remake.”
He went on to note that this other Splinter Cell game would be Splinter Cell Blacklist and it was supposed to be announced in June. Splinter Cell Blacklist was released back in 2013 by Ubisoft Toronto and was a sequel to Splinter Cell: Conviction.
A screenshot from Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Blacklist (2013), Ubisoft
The Splinter Cell Remake was announced back in 2021 with Ubisoft revealing in a trailer that “Ubisoft Toronto had begun work on a remake of Sam Fisher’s most classic operations.”
Alongside the trailer, the game’s Producer Matt West told Ubisoft.com, “Although we’re still in the very earliest stages of development, what we’re trying to do is make sure the spirit of the early games remains intact, in all of the ways that gave early Splinter Cell its identity.”
He added, “So, as we’re building it from the ground up, we’re going to update it visually, as well as some of the design elements to match player comfort and expectations, and we are going to keep it linear like the original games, not make it open world.”
A screenshot from Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell (2003), Ubisoft
Peter Handrinos, the game’s Technical Producer, also indicated Ubisoft Toronto would be taking its time with the game, “So now we’re going to take the time to explore what this means for us, for light and shadow, for animation tech, for gameplay, AI, even audio.”
He added, “We’re going to ask ourselves, ‘where does it make sense for us to innovate? What not only fits with the legacy, but brings the game up to a level that will be expected of us, and where can we surprise our players?’ We want to bring them something new, yet still connect them to that feeling that they had two decades ago, playing that masterpiece for the first time.”
West also indicated that they would have to recreate a number of things from scratch, “There’s stuff that simply needs to be redone from scratch to be up to snuff for a modern gameplay experience. With that, though, what do we need to do to absolutely preserve the feeling of early Splinter Cell? We’re going to be straddling the line between the spirit of the old, and the comfort of the new, so that we can excite and surprise new players, but also make sure that when our returning players pick up the controller, they have that sigh of relief, saying ‘Ahhh, they got it.'”
A screenshot from Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell (2003), Ubisoft
The most recent official news regarding the game came from the game’s Managing Director Daryl Long who told PSU that the game will “remain in stealth mode, for now.”
What do you make of this new report that Ubisoft is still developing its Splinter Cell Remake?
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