Splinter Cell: Conviction didn't have the smoothest development ever. So it shouldn't be surprising Blacklist creative director Maxime Beland calls the title a "rescue job." The game was a reboot, which changed many of the typical aspects of a Splinter Cell game.
These changes were mostly the type of changes that any self-respecting stealth fan bemoans: making a title more action-oriented. The reason this happened was because people were brought in specifically to 'rescue' it, and that's how they did it. By making it less about stealth and more about action, as seems to be the case with most stealth games nowadays.
According to Beland, he was "brought in because it wasn't going well. We changed the direction and kind of shipped the game in two years. So Conviction is very sweet and sour for me," Develop reports.
He then goes on to explain that different player archetypes that they delved into in order to craft experiences that could be enjoyed by everyone. We're talking like, stealthy types, the run-and-gun types, and just about everything in-between.
This is the perpetual woe of any 'hardcore' [insert genre here] fan: when games try to appeal to everyone, the original fans feel gipped. The trick is finding the type of balance where everyone gets what they're looking for in a game, without sacrificing anyone's experience. Though some fans will be upset that mass appeal is pursued, period. And those people can go suck it, I guess, because they're not the only ones that deserve to enjoy a game!
