Splinter Cell delayed until 2009/10

By Tom Bramwell Published 24 July, 2008

No earlier than April, says Ubisoft.

The next instalment in the Splinter Cell series won't be released until April next year at the earliest, Ubisoft has told investors.

Announcing the firm's Q1 2008/09 sales, the publisher said, "Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell, whose release was previously scheduled for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2008-09, will now bolster the line-up for fiscal 2009-10."

That's between 1st April 2009 and 31st March 2010 in old money. The game's due out on PC and Xbox 360.

(Update, 5.53pm: In a conference call following the announcement, Ubisoft bigwig Yves Guillemot added: "Splinter Cell is a very important franchise for Ubisoft and we have high anticipation for this game. It is a major product and we want it to be able to catch all the gameplay opportunities it is offering to us today. There are lots of opportunities that we want to take and so that is why we can give [them] a little bit more time to make sure it can become a huge product.")

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction was demoed at UbiDays in Paris in May 2007, and attracted criticism after the developers said they were reducing the range of controls in favour of context-sensitive actions that would depend on protagonist Sam Fisher's situation.

We previewed it at the time and noted, "A bit like Sam, the present public reaction suggests it'll be guilty until proven innocent." We're so funny. No wonder we live in cheap flats and eat microwave chips.

Earlier this year, reports surfaced that Conviction was being completely redesigned, but Ubisoft claimed it was "pure speculation". Perhaps not, if the delay is anything to go by. Speaking to Eurogamer at this year's UbiDays a couple of months ago, global development boss Christine Burgess-Overmard said the game would be released "when it's ready".

Elsewhere in the report, Ubisoft reiterates that Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway will be released in the current fiscal quarter, which means sometime between now and the end of September.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (36) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • dsmx #1 4 years ago

    Won't that mean it's been delayed for 2 years now?

  • syphaa #2 4 years ago

    News which everyone knew was coming to be honest :)

  • Santino #3 4 years ago

    considering this is ubisoft we are talking about, the game must really have been in TERRIBLE shape for them to actually delay it/start from scratch instead of just throwing it out and beefing up the marketing budget.

  • penhalion #4 4 years ago

    "Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell, whose release was previously scheduled for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2008-09, will now bolster the line-up for fiscal 2009-10."

    Would that be to give them time to attach a game to the rag doll physics and crowd algorithms?

    Something Assasins creed could have stood to do.

  • Raz76 #5 4 years ago

    Maybe they are reworking it into the Assassin's Creed engine? They seem to use that for everything these days.

  • daz_john_smith #6 4 years ago

    I still hoped they haven't scraped their concept and gone back to something more familiar to appease all the people who just want more of the same

  • MrWonderstuff #7 4 years ago

    "Assassin's Creed was rubbish, hardly a game worthy of imitation. Boring and barely deserving of the word "interactive"."

    He was talking about the engine you daft twat.

  • Benno #8 4 years ago

    ah snap

  • Freek #9 4 years ago

    The problem with AC wasn't the platforming mechanics, it worked like a charm. Fast fluid movement where the chalange came from keeping the momentum going and choosing the right path.
    The problem came in when it turned out there weren't that many interesting missions to take on, all that potential but little to actaully do with it.

  • Veldaban #10 4 years ago

    Don't confuse usability and difficulty. Any "challenge" that comes from the complexity of the controls isn't really a very interesting challenge. Deciding "what to do" should be the challenge, not the actual doing it. Context sensitive controls are a good way to implement this.

    Not giving the player enough variation, or not giving enough meaning to the decisions you can make, is when you get into trouble (as with Assassin's Creed). I still prefer that to games that mask these kind of shortcomings with complex controls though...

  • Raz76 #11 4 years ago

    @Titus

    Yeah well the engine has proven pretty versatile, they are even using it for that snowboarding game. And whatever you might think of the actual gameplay, there is no denying it had a really high technical standard. Anyway, it's just a guess and I maybe not very interesting considering that little is known about how the game will work anyway. So, er, never mind.

  • doragor #12 4 years ago

    @ TitusGroan

    youuuu pinhead.
    " I was making the point that using the same engine, tends to produce similar gameplay results... I play games for the sense of achievement I get from mastering something difficult. "

    *makes note in dark book of judgement*

  • DUFFKING #13 4 years ago

    For the best, I hope.

  • bad09 #14 4 years ago

    Shame I liked the sound of the Bourne take this time around. Oh well one to forget for now.

  • Xerx3s #15 4 years ago

    Microsoft is the new sony.

  • Vin #16 4 years ago

    You're all fucking nuts.

  • APHIZM #17 4 years ago

    I bet they wish they'd made it multi-platform now - they could just blame the PS3 for any delays ;)

  • andijames #18 4 years ago

    @ TitusGroan

    You're a cunt whatever button's pressed lets face it.

    The same engine does not give the same game. How many games have been released using the unreal engine? Are they all strikingly similar? Assassin's Creed was ambitious and good on them for trying something different. The engine they built is imense and im sure the next game in the series will rock

  • andijames #19 4 years ago

    @blig_merk

    Yes very true they create very similar looking games that is very true. Then you get the odd one that deviates from this and looks a little more different.

    What TitusGroan was saying thou was they all play the same with the same engine. This isn't true. Tell me gears of war plays the same as bioshock? That was the point i was making. The engine is fantastic on Assassin's Creed i think it just needs a bit more creativity on the game design front.

  • dsmx #20 4 years ago

    PS3 is only a bastard to program for if you try to put xbox 360 code on it, the moment you start writing code for the ps3 it instantly becomes easy to write code for it.

  • Xerx3s #21 4 years ago

    "You're all fucking nuts."

    Compliments won't get you anywhere.

    "PS3 is only a bastard to program for if you try to put xbox 360 code on it, the moment you start writing code for the ps3 it instantly becomes easy to write code for it."

    So is this years of programming experience talking there or are you just talking out of your arse with wishful thinking and 2ndhand info.

  • PearOfAnguish #22 4 years ago

    Titus, ignoring the fact that two of the games you're talking about haven't even been released yet, the engine used has no impact on the quality of the final game unless it is horribly broken. It's about what the developers do with the technology. For example: Gamebryo, the engine behind Oblivion, Fallout 3, Morrowind, Civ 4 and many other titles, was also used to make Playboy: The Mansion.

    Imagine a man with 8 arms and one head, and put him in a kitchen and tell him to cook...

    The problem with that is anyone waiting for eight-armed-chef will have starved to death by the time he's learnt to cook.
    Edited by 3 at 24/07/08 @ 23:26

  • PearOfAnguish #23 4 years ago

    Yes you were talking about Ubisoft, but that still doesn't mean it's the fault of the engine. And they do have many development teams, it's not all the same people working on all three games.
    I thought AC was plop too, but you should at least wait for Prince of Persia and Splinter Cell to be released before passing judgement on Ubi's ability to make a decent game with the tech.

  • JonFE #24 4 years ago

    I, for one, was very excited about the art / gameplay direction that old trailer was taking -especially compared to the established Splinter Cell formula- and hope Ubi haven't scrapped that altogether, even if it will be used on a different IP...

  • dudefella #25 4 years ago

    Oh god some people have no fucking idea what an engine is. To the idiot who said using the same engine tends to lead to similar games: [link url=http://en.wik ipedia.org/wiki/Renderware
    ]http://en.wik ipedia.org/wiki/Renderware
    [/link]

    Engines are for graphics, nothing more.

  • don81 #26 4 years ago

    Been waiting for BIA hells highway for years!! supposed to be out 2 years ago! get it out already!!

  • Moggo #27 4 years ago

    Lol's, I love the British humour.

    Anyway, BIA is in serious trouble of becoming irrelevant. There's only so long that people will keep giving a toss, and that time is running out.

    I hope it's good, but the signs aren't positive.

  • andijames #28 4 years ago

    @bling_merk

    I know. I was making the point that using the same engine, tends to produce similar gameplay results.

    Look at Prince of Persia 4. Press A to perform acrobatics. No challenge. No death. Open world.

    /is totally right

    That's what you yourself written. Was that not suggesting that the game plays the same with the same engine? So yes a complete tit would presume they all play the same if they use the same engine.

    PS: Apologies for using the C word
    Edited by 1 at 25/07/08 @ 09:22

  • andijames #29 4 years ago

    @bling_merk

    my apologies he did and you didn't. Next stop coffee pot!

  • BadBoyBonner #30 4 years ago

    @blig_merk

    Once programmers learn how to juggle the 8 spu's of the Cell effectiely, they will be doing things that would only bepossible in that arrangmeent on a cpu of that pricerange and performance level.

    Does that also mean that the programmers will have to figure out how to release a dormant spu and also completely disable the one reserved for the os?

    So for the analogy to be right - one of the chefs arms is paralysed and the other is reserved for picking his nose and holding his mobile phone permanently while cooking?

  • Darren #31 4 years ago

    I'm bored of Splinter Cell now anyway. The last game, Double Agent, on the 360 wasn't that great anyway and was actually much better on the original Xbox bar the graphics but then the screen tearing actually looked much worst on the "superior" platform version! LOL

  • andijames #32 4 years ago

    @TitusGroan

    I'm not trying to argue and can see you have some kind of logic but the original point remains:

    I know. I was making the point that using the same engine, tends to produce similar gameplay results.

    Look at Prince of Persia 4. Press A to perform acrobatics. No challenge. No death. Open world.

    /is totally right

    That was your original comment yes?

    Assassin's Creed was not your cup of tea fair enough but it doesn't mean that using the same engine brings out the same game does it? If they use the same engine in Splinter Cell:Conviction then they can build an entirely different game from using a rather good engine. Assassin's Creed was technically brilliant but, yes, was let down by very repetitive gaming. It doesn't mean any game using the same engine is going to suffer the same fate does it?

    Edited by 1 at 25/07/08 @ 10:40

  • samadriel #33 4 years ago

    "I'm bored of Splinter Cell now anyway. The last game, Double Agent, on the 360 wasn't that great anyway and was actually much better on the original Xbox bar the graphics but then the screen tearing actually looked much worst on the "superior" platform version! LOL"
    I hated 'Double Agent' (an Ubi Shanghai production), but I understand 'Conviction' is by the guys at Montreal who did 'Chaos Theory', and that was fucking awesome, so I have a bit of faith in this, tempered only by the atrocity that was the 'DA' PC port -- will Ubi continue to show such vile disregard for Splinter Cell's best platform? I'll be torrenting the game for inspection before I go gambling my money on it, in any case. Won't get fooled again!
    Edited by 1 at 25/07/08 @ 12:03

  • belziah #34 4 years ago

    @ShitthebedicusD ayandNiticus

    You've made your valid point, now shut the fuck up. You give me eye-ache!

    Repeating it 15 times doesn't make you 15 time as right.

    You bring your boorish pompous tantrums and hypocritical bullshit to nigh on every fucking thread and even when your right, you beat the point to a bloody nub.

  • Cider86 #35 4 years ago

    Come on now children. Settle down.

  • SomaticSense #36 4 years ago

    I hate to rain on people's parade, but I think too many people here are confusing game engines with graphics engines.