Ubisoft was working on a new Splinter Cell game that was going to embrace games-as-a-service before it shifted to become XDefiant, a game that the publisher shut down not long after release. This is according to Nick Herman, a developer who worked on the game before leaving to start AdHoc Studios, the team that just launched the episodic game Dispatch to great success.
“I was so excited to be a part of this and help revitalize it, because it’s been dormant for a while,” Herman said told Bloomberg. “And we thought we could tell a great story and do something the fans would love.”
The game was in development “for a few months,” Bloomberg reported, and Herman confirmed that Ubisoft wanted to have it feature games-as-a-service elements.
“We tried,” Herman said. “Let’s make a narrative GAAS game. We were trying to make that make sense, and a lot of cool prototypes were made.”
The report said “Ubisoft had lost interest” in this Splinter Cell game and shifted to pursue a project that could attempt to compete with Call of Duty. This became XDefiant, a game directed by former Call of Duty boss Mark Rubin. The game shut down after a year and developers were laid off.
“We thought we were going to be able to make something really great,” Herman said. “And then you realize that all of the things you care about, they don’t anymore. It’s a common thing in games.”
While that Splinter Cell game is not coming to market, a Splinter Cell remake is now in the works. Outside of games, the Splinter Cell TV show Deathwatch debuted in October on Netflix and has already been renewed for a second season. A live-action movie was in the works, but apparently no longer is.
