Tom Clancy was a popular American novelist who's given readers memorable fictional characters like John Clark and Jack Ryan. Over the years, his novels have been turned into movies and TV shows, starring famous actors like Harrison Ford and John Krasinski. Clancy's works have inspired countless Ubisoft video games like Rainbow Six and Splinter Cell. However, the author died in 2013, which is why it may be surprising that video games bearing his name continue to release.
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six debuted in 1998, appearing on PC, PlayStation, Dreamcast, Nintendo 64, and even the Game Boy Color. After several subsequent Rainbow Six titles, another franchise - Ghost Recon - premiered in 2001 and has spawned fifteen entries so far. Then, in 2002, Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell arrived, giving the world a new and original character in Sam Fisher, and it quickly became one of Ubisoft's most popular titles ever. Since then, new IPs like Tom Clancy's The Division games and the mobile RPG Tom Clancy's Elite Squad have appeared.
It's not uncommon for famous authors to get video games based on their works. Writers like J. R. R. Tolkien, J. K. Rowling, and even Stephen King have video game adaptations based on their novels. But no author has ever quite reached the volume that Tom Clancy has. The author has dozens of games with his name in the title, which has made his name recognizable to millions of people who've never read a single one of his books. Even though Clancy died in 2013 from complications due to heart failure, his name continues to be used for video game series, including recent games like Rainbow Six Siege and The Division 2.
Why Tom Clancy's Name Is Still On Video Games
When the first games arrived in the late '90s, Tom Clancy was a living author with several hit movies based on his novels. It made sense to put his name at the beginning of all the games' titles, because it would help sell games. Red Storm Entertainment, which made the first Rainbow Six and Ghost Recon games, was even co-founded by Clancy. When Red Storm Entertainment was bought out by Ubisoft, they kept using Tom Clancy's name on games and acquired usage of the author's name in 2008. Since then, the Tom Clancy's series has continued churning out games. Rainbow Six: Quarantine is expected in 2021, meaning half a dozen titles have released since the author's death in 2013.
The Tom Clancy's series originated as a way to boost sales for Red Storm Entertainment's games, and it was due to the author's involvement with the company. However, in the years since Ubisoft acquired the Tom Clancy's series, and even after the author's death, the Tom Clancy's moniker is simply to denote a game is inside Ubisoft's same in-game universe. Tom Clancy's has become a series title like Final Fantasy, The Legend of Zelda, or Grand Theft Auto. It's a brand, one that now has very little or nothing to do with the author himself.
Although Tom Clancy no longer has anything to do with the games bearing his name, which happened even before his death, Ubisoft's Tom Clancy's series honors the author's legacy with titles focusing on military action and intrigue. Even now, seven years after Clancy's death, titles like Splinter Cell, Ghost Recon, and Rainbow Six Siege remain as popular as ever.