The Splinter Cell franchise is in a weird place where there hasn't been a new entry in 6 years, yet the main character, Sam Fisher, has made cameos in other Tom Clancy games and projects. In May of 2019, a producer at Ubisoft made a tweet that he had been working on a new Splinter Cell game that may or may not show up at E3 2019.
He quickly let the internet know that he was simply joking and as you can infer that didn't go over well with Splinter Cell fans or the franchise publisher, Ubisoft. With the franchise in limbo let's take a look at 10 rumors about Splinter Cell 2020 that could actually be true.
10 Sam Fisher Returns
Most people reading this would assume that Sam Fisher is a lock to be featured in the next Splinter Cell game. Though he's the main character of the franchise Ubisoft hasn't veered away from making bold decisions.
In 2013's Splinter Cell: Blacklist, the last entry in the series, Michael Ironside was replaced by Eric Johnson as the voice of Sam Fisher. This was a move that made fans very angry as Ironside was seen as the only actor who should voice Sam Fisher. Fans feel that if they're fine with replacing the actor, who's to say they don't replace the protagonist altogether.
9 Partially Inspired By Hitman
Stealth isn't only a niche genre, but it's quickly becoming a dying one as well. Games like Hitman and Dishonored have had tough times finding strong sales success and it is really spelling doom for bigger AAA games to commit to the genre beloved by so many fans. Splinter Cell is a franchise that relishes stealth mechanics and loves to make the player feel tense and careful.
Adopting the newer Hitman games' approach of large open-areas with varying objectives and win conditions could give the franchise a refreshing feel with built-in replayability.
8 New Voice For Same Fisher
Though video games haven't been around as long as most other major entertainment mediums it still features something that encompasses most properties. There are characters who are distinctly tied to their voice, and replacing the actor could be a PR nightmare and drastically affect sales.
Some of the more popular cases for this include Snake from Metal Gear Solid, Master Chief from Halo, Nathan Drake from Uncharted, and of course Sam Fisher from Splinter Cell. If Sam returns and Michael Ironside isn't voicing him expect Twitter to let Ubisoft know about their feelings.
7 Spies Vs. Mercs Returns
Spies vs. Mercenaries is a rare case where a series' best multiplayer mode is also the community's favorite mode of all time. Outside of the return of Michael Ironside as Sam Fisher, Spies vs. Mercs is #1 in terms of the most requested and dreamed about addition to the next Splinter Cell entry.
If the team who's working on the next entry is paying attention to the Splinter Cell fan base it's hard to believe they wouldn't include it. Fans are worried that Splinter Cell may feature a battle royale mode, instead of an older mode fans want to be brought back.
6 Will Be Revealed At E3 2020
It seems that a new entry in the Splinter Cell series is a rumor and prediction that surfaces every year in late May as the entire industry is gearing up for E3. Over the last two years Ubisoft has had Sam Fisher cameo in both Ghost Recon: Wildlands and a new mobile Tom Clancy game.
Ubisoft is pretty in-tune with their audience in terms of being a publisher, so it's tough to think they'd leave this audience high and dry. Rumors have suggested that instead of showing Splinter Cell years in advance, Ubisoft has opted to make it a next-gen reveal for the new Xbox at E3 2020.
5 No More Sam Fisher
When companies bring back a dormant franchise that's either been gone for decades or close to that they tend to have one of two approaches. They either lean into nostalgia and focus on giving a modern take on beloved characters, or they fully reboot where the title is the only recognizable piece of the project.
With Michael Ironside aging and being a property with a hardcore audience but not a huge sales success, there's a chance Ubisoft might commit to the latter as opposed to the former. Fans are hoping the first voice they hear is the iconic operative.
4 Waiting For Next-Gen
By 2020 it will be 7 years since Splinter Cell: Blacklist released in 2013. Ubisoft is a publisher who's known for pumping out entries in their franchises, so fans have been pretty upset with the lack of any new entry in the Splinter Cell franchise. In that time Ubisoft has released numerous Far Cry, Assassin's Creed, Ghost Recon, and Division games with no sign of Sam Fisher in sight.
Fans are now under the assumption that by the time Ubisoft greenlit the next entry, it was so close to the next console generation that they opted to take advantage of the new tech.
3 Xbox Exclusive
The Splinter Cell brand has been associated directly with Microsoft's Xbox gaming division numerous times over the years. It serves as a strong case for why rumors are circulating that it won't only be revealed on Xbox's stage, but come to the console as an exclusive as well.
In the past couple of years Xbox's Head of Gaming, Phil Spencer, has vocalized his displeasure in console exclusive content, but with the next generation, Xbox console slated to release in Holiday 2020, Spencer and company might pull out the big guns and snag a new Splinter Cell as a console launch exclusive.
2 Open-World
For the last 5 or 6 years, the game industry has had a focus on open-world experiences, and in the last 3, there's been a focus on battle royale and games-as-a-service type games.
Ubisoft has turned most of their major franchises into one of these 3 genres at their core, with specificity and uniqueness layered on top. Splinter Cell places an emphasis on stealth-based action, a type of gameplay not normally associated with open-worlds. Fans have been waiting for a new entry for years so it's hard to say how they'd respond to an open-world Splinter Cell game.
1 Michael Ironside Returns
There have been rumblings about whether or not the original voice of Sam Fisher would return to the series upon the development and release of a new game in the franchise. Michael Ironside, the iconic voice behind Sam Fisher isn't the youngest man around and fans are worried they'll miss out on the chance to hear him once again in a Splinter Cell game.
In 2018 Ironside stated that he had been working with Ubisoft, but fans were unsure if this was in reference to a new Splinter Cell game, or a couple of Sam Fisher cameos in other Ubisoft titles.