Ubisoft was working on a new entry in the Splinter Cell franchise, but Ubisoft decided to cancel it before it was ever announced.
In a recent interview with Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, AdHoc Studio co-founder Nick Herman spoke about how Dispatch came to be and an interesting situation that led to the studio’s formation.
Herman was hired in 2017 by Ubisoft, along two other AdHoc cofounders Pierre Shorette and Dennis Lenart, and moved to work in Ubisoft’s San Francisco office. Upon arrival, they were put on the new Splinter Cell project.
“I was so excited to be a part of this and help revitalize it, because it’s been dormant for a while,” Herman told Schreier. “And we thought we could tell a great story and do something the fans would love.”
Unfortunately, the game didn’t get very far. After just months of work, Ubisoft started making pivots on its plans. It seemed like the writing was on the wall for the game.
“It was exciting to go to work for the first six months because we thought we were going to be able to make something really great,” Herman said. “And then you realize that all of the things you care about, they don’t anymore. It’s a common thing in games.”
Herman, Shorette, and Lenart would leave Ubisoft after the project was cancelled and form AdHoc Studio along with Michael Choung in 2018.
Despite no new game in the franchise since Splinter Cell: Blacklist in 2013, Splinter Cell isn’t dead. Ubisoft is currently working on a remake of the original game that, as of late 2024, was still planned for a 2026 release. Since then, however, it’s been quite silent on its status.
Recently, Ubisoft has moved into a partnership with Tencent, started a new subsidiary, and even delayed reporting its earnings just minutes before they were scheduled to release.
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Mike has been covering the gaming industry since 2012, and has reported on some of the largest events in the industry while also working as an investigative reporter. Outside of…
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That’s hilarious Ubisoft really wants to be brought out or go bankrupt
Or maybe they couldn’t make the lead a trans disabled gender fluid poc amputee, who knows?
They just made a good netflix animated Splinter Cell show… Would have been great if they had a game to go along with it…
Might as well just set piles of cash on fire