Of the many new IPs that Ubisoft has announced over the past few years – from the competitive ship combat in Skull and Bones to the open world space combat of Starlink: Battle for Atlas – a few names have been notably missing. Where is the next Splinter Cell? On top of that, where’s the next Prince of Persia?
The former saw its last release in 2013 with Splinter Cell: Blacklist while the latter had Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands in 2010. Though Ubisoft has teased a possible Splinter Cell announcement before, it has yet to actually happen. That doesn’t mean some within the company aren’t working to make these games a reality.
Game Informer recently spoke to Ubisoft chief creative officer Serge Hascoet, who’s worked on current titles in franchises like Assassin’s Creed, Rainbow Six and Ghost Recon. When asked about some brands that had fallen “dormant” in the past several years and whether there’s a roadmap for any of them, Hascoet had an interesting answer.
“I love Splinter Cell. I love Prince of Persia. I can’t disclose any information at this time, but I can say we are fighting for resources. It’s not a question of will, it’s a question of means.”
The rest of the interview is interesting, especially when Hascoet talks about how the company has “no one rule” when it comes to creating new IP. “We have to believe in the ideas, and the ideas can come from people who know how to do games. We have to believe in the idea and if we believe in them then we decide to make the game.
“We moved from Prince of Persia to Assassin’s Creed because we thought the prototype was compelling enough to do something new and fresh. Once again it was a team idea. But, it’s case by case. You can look at all of our creations, and you can see it’s a mix between us – me and my team – the dev team, possibly [Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot]. It’s very organic.”
In the meantime, the wait continues for the next Splinter Cell, Prince of Persia and perhaps even Rayman at this point.