Published , by Brittany Vincent
Published , by Brittany Vincent
Sam Fisher is still taking an extended sabbatical from the video game industry. At least, that's what we can surmise from the dearth of Splinter Cell news at E3 2019. Though fans have been hotly anticipating a new installment for quite some time,
Yes, it looks like the iconic stealth action series was nowhere to be found during Ubisoft's E3 showcase today, and with most of the company's announcements out of the way ahead of the first official day of the show, Splinter Cell was once again snubbed. Sam Fisher's either sneaking way too well for anyone to be able to catch him, or Splinter Cell just isn't happening right now.
The latest installment of the Splinter Cell series was 2013's Splinter Cell: Blacklist. Before that, fans only had a three-year wait between titles as Splinter Cell: Conviction debuted before that. It's been nearly seven years since we've seen Sam Fisher in action, and while the sixth main installment in the Splinter Cell series was an intriguing change in direction for Sam's career (he was appointed the new commander of "Fourth Echelon" following the demise of Third Echelon -- essentially, anyway -- it wasn't any sort of "ending" for Sam or the Splinter Cell series.
Still, Ubisoft has been eerily silent about the future of the franchise, save for a few comments from Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot back during E3 2017, in which he stated "I can't say much about that [Splinter Cell]. But, for sure, all the Clancy games are taken care of. It's just we have quite a lot on our plate at the moment...All the Clancy games are really coming along, so we are not forgetting Splinter Cell."
Beyond an official comment from Guillemot, in May 2019 Ubisoft creative director Julian Gerighty took to social media to announce that a new Splinter Cell game is currently in development, and that he himself had been working on it personally with Ubisoft Montreal creative director Roman Campos-Oriola and executive producer Dan Hay. Ubisoft has since come out denying that the game exists, which doesn't really bode well for fans. But if something is brewing, it certainly didn't happen here in sunny Los Angeles, California this year.
Of course, it isn't fair to say Sam Fisher was nowhere to be found during the Ubisoft press conference. He'll be making an apperance in the upcoming turn-based tactical mobile game Tom Clancy's Elite Squad. Fisher will appear alongside characters from Ubisoft's other titles, like Rainbow Six Siege and Ghost Recon.
Sam will look a sight different than you may be used to, however, as the game takes on a distinct, cartoony art style. It's not a new core Splinter Cell title, but at the very least it's something. And if that doesn't strike your fancy at all, at least we can feel secure in the knowledge that something new is likely coming for the series, given the fact that Ubisoft was keen on at the very least including Sam in a new game in some capacity.
Be sure to stay tuned to Shacknews for additional updates surrounding everything E3 2019 as well as Splinter Cell. We believe in Sam Fisher, and we believe he's got another round of games in him. No one's going to sleep on one of our favorite stealth heroes, that's for sure.