Splinter Cell: Blacklist - On this day

On this day eight years ago, the then-controversial game Splinter Cell: Blacklist was launched. It is also a reminder of how much time has passed since Ubisoft retired its icon Sam Fisher, and thus the entire Splinter Cell.

When we say that Blacklist was a controversial game we mean first of all the way it was promoted before it came out. Previous parts like Double Agent and Conviction already had action in daylight, but Blacklist looked like a third-person shooter at E3 presentations. Sam chained his opponents by running towards them.

Admittedly, there were a few parts of the game sticking out from the rest. One of the missions was thus performed from a first-person perspective, with a character who was not Sam Fisher. Fans were not bothered by the additional playful character, but they were disappointed that Sam Fisher got a new voice, ie another actor, since Blacklist was also filmed for the movement, so Ubisoft was looking for a younger actor. 

Splinter Cell Blacklist after the release mostly picked up good reviews, primarily because of the amount of content. There was also negative criticism at the expense of graphics and controls, but many agreed that Blacklist was the best Splinter Cell back in a few years.

Ubisoft had very high expectations of the game and hoped to sell five million copies. Unfortunately for Sam Fisher, Blacklist didn’t sell even half of it. That result was decided by the Splinter Cell series, so Blacklist was followed by the longest break in its history. Ubisoft has the next Splinter Cell game somewhere in development, but it hardly fits into their overall plan to launch games by service model.