With all the woes facing Ubisoft lately, you would not be faulted for assuming that Splinter Cell Remake might already be kaput. But it looks like that isn’t the case at all.
As reported by Insider Gaming, Splinter Cell Remake has not been cancelled, but is still very much in the works at Ubisoft’s Toronto studio. Their source also says that development continues using the Snowdrop engine.
For those who don’t remember, Ubisoft Toronto was founded in 2010, and intended to be a major studio to lead on making their own games from the onset. Ubisoft also had key people from their Montreal office move to Toronto to set up this studio, such as Jade Raymond, creative director Maxime Beland, and producer Alexandre Parizeau.
Their first original game, Splinter Cell Blacklist, received favorable reviews, but sold so poorly that it is blamed for Ubisoft stopping development of new Splinter Cell games. A few months later, Raymond left Ubisoft. Beland and Perizeau take over as management, overseeing Ubisoft Toronto’s role as a support studio for most of its existence.
Ubisoft Toronto was not exempt from the controversies surrounding the company, and both Beland and Perizeau would leave in the fallout. Istvan Tajnay was head of the studio by the time they announced the Splinter Cell Remake in 2021. However, Tajnay was moved to Ubisoft Montpelier in 2023.
So as of this writing, the head of Ubisoft Toronto is Darryl Long, Long is a veteran who had previously led their Montreal and Winnipeg studios. He also oversaw development of Skull & Bones at the same time as this remake.
As you can see, even with few updates from Ubisoft, fans had sufficient grounds to doubt this remake’s status. We ourselves reported that David Grivel, who was director for the game, left Ubisoft in 2022.
As for the Snowdrop engine, Ubisoft may face criticism for not adopting Unreal 5 as their standard, but the company has gamely demonstrated its flexibility and performance. It was first used for Tom Clancy’s The Division, and it powers games as varied in scale and needs as Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, Rocksmith+, and Mario + Rabbids.
It’s credible to believe, in spite of all the FUD, that Splinter Cell Remake’s development is going just fine. Ubisoft may have made enough changes at their Toronto studio, and the studio may have earned enough experience, that they can produce a remake that will satisfy fans.
We do wish the best for Ubisoft Toronto, and hope they can deliver on what could be their vindication from their first game from over a decade ago.
