It’s been a pretty miserable couple of years for Splinter Cell fans. There’s no indication that a new entry in the venerable stealth series is in development, and Ubisoft keeps putting Sam Fisher in just enough of a spotlight that the wounds stay fresh. Today, the publisher has done it again – simply by posting a photo of Sam.
Ubisoft Spain tweeted the picture this morning, along with Sam Fisher hashtag and a message that Google Translates to “you need to understand the darkness to face it.” The picture itself seems to be from the teaser trailer for Fisher’s appearance in Ghost Recon Wildlands, so it seems there’s no new content here.
Splinter Cell fans are already going wild at the possibilities, but let’s all be honest with ourselves here – this is almost certainly just a bit of social media tomfoolery to drive engagement. Reliable industry insiders have reported as recently as June that there’s no new Splinter Cell in development, and some people at Ubisoft have been pretty casual about toying with the hearts of fans on Twitter in the past.
For now, there are only two serious possible returns for the Splinter Cell IP. One is the mobile game, Tom Clancy’s Elite Squad. The other is as part of a deal with Facebook and Oculus to develop VR games based on Ubisoft properties.
Hace falta entender la oscuridad para poder hacerle frente… #SamFisher pic.twitter.com/fTsRnCQa7d
— Ubisoft España (@Ubisoft_Spain) November 8, 2019
In other words, don’t read too much into that tweet.
If you’re looking for one of the kings of stealth games to make its comeback, you’re going to have to keep on waiting.