A Ubisoft director may or may not have leaked plans for a new Splinter Cell game.
Fans have been calling for the game's next installment for some time now and the announcement over Ghost Recon Breakpoint only seemed to fuel their pleas.
Notably, the upcoming Ghost Recon first emerged as a leak and it has since been confirmed for an October 4 launch. So when The Division 2's creative director Julian Gerighty dropped a particular tweet on Tuesday, it had to be taken seriously, although Ubisoft PR will have you believe this was all done in jest.
The publishers are hardly known for their subtlety and aren't exactly ones to keep their upcoming titles secret. And it appears that a glass of wine - possibly a few more than a glass - is all it takes for Gerighty to start spilling the beans.
A tweet, prompted by absolutely nothing and coming out of nowhere lays claim to a new Splinter Cell game being developed and suggests that it could be revealed at E3.
The last Splinter Cell to come from Ubisoft, Splinter Cell: Blacklist, dates way back to 2013. And, given the game's reputation, you would hardly be surprised to know that the tweet sparked a frenzy.
Ubisoft, though, was quick to pour cold water on all of this, reaching out to IGN to claim that Gerighty was only joking.
"Julian was obviously joking as Julian likes to do," a representative told the publication in an email. "It looks like our creative directors are having fun right now. We do not have any announcements to make at this time."
Who knows? Maybe Julian was just having a little fun. But the timing of it all is still a bit suspect.
The director would post another tweet urging persons not to retweet his original as he might be in trouble. Yet another tweet revealed a message from a Ubisoft PR associate director asking him to turn his phone off.
A wine-driven Julian was ready to do nothing of the sort, however, and let him know it.
Ubisoft PR is apparently a little ticked off by this but their statement doesn't contain a direct denial; they're just not ready to make any announcements yet.
On to E3 then.