Fans of the Splinter Cell series have been largely left in the dark since 2013, when Blacklist first released. Ever since, series protagonist Sam Fisher has been relegated to cameos in other Ubisoft games, while the Tom Clancy brand continues to change. Longtime fans of the espionage and stealth franchise still hope for a Splinter Cell return, but it grows increasingly unlikely that a new entry could live up to its predecessors or correct the course Ubisoft has taken with the Tom Clancy license.
American writer Tom Clancy was primarily known for his military-science and techno-thriller novels. He invented the fictional, multinational, counterterrorism unit Rainbow, which inspired the Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six games, and sponsored the creation of many other video game series tied to his name, including Splinter Cell and Ghost Recon, before he died in 2013. Whether or not his death correlates to the lack of new Splinter Cell games since 2013, Ubisoft has seemingly taken greater liberties with the Tom Clancy branding in general, which doesn't bode well for the future of the Splinter Cell franchise.
Aside from Rainbow Six Siege continuously wandering further into science-fiction territory over the course of its nearly six-year lifespan, the recently announced multiplayer FPS, Tom Clancy's XDefiant, seems to abandon the general aesthetic and tone created by the late writer's works. The current trend for Tom Clancy games leaves little hope that the Splinter Cell series will make a triumphant return.
Maybe It's Time To Let Splinter Cell Go
The Ubisoft of today seems largely uninterested in making tightly designed single player experiences. Rainbow Six Siege is almost singularly focused on competitive multiplayer, and Rainbow Six Extraction is intended to be a replayable co-op shooter. The last two Ghost Recon entries have gone fully open-world, much like the rest of Ubisoft's catalogue. Ubisoft appears to be increasingly focused on delivering a continuous abundance of content, as evidenced by the live service-oriented Assassin's Creed Infinity, which will presumably bear less resemblance to the original games than might have been expected of a new Assassin's Creed game prior to its announcement.
Since Ubisoft hasn't managed to deliver another single-player Splinter Cell campaign that doesn't overstay its welcome in nearly a decade, it's starting to look like the series is dormant, if not outright dead. The industry shift toward live-service multiplayer games has seemingly disincentivized Ubisoft from continuing the series, and maybe that's ultimately for the better. A modern take on Splinter Cell seems like it would have a greater chance of disappointing than succeeding. Taking into account the state of the Tom Clancy brand, a new Splinter Cell could potentially be an online-only affair loaded with micro-transactions, or burdened by an overly large open world with too many diffuse side quests. Taking another stab at Splinter Cell doesn't appear to be in Ubisoft's best interest, because the series can't be effectively molded to fit into the diluted Tom Clancy marketing scheme.