At this point, it's almost like Ubisoft is doing everything it can to avoid putting Splinter Cell's Sam Fisher in his own game. The stealthy star of the popular (long-dormant) action franchise has become the Stan Lee of Ubisoft games, appearing in a huge number of cameos and crossovers... seemingly doomed to never again feature in an actual Splinter Cell sequel.
Sure enough, Ubisoft has now confirmed that Sam Fisher is back once again - for a Rainbow Six Siege crossover event. The announcement video, which you can watch below, confirms that Fisher will be joining the tactical shooter as a playable operator, with a gruff new look to boot.
"You should know better than to write me off," a bearded Fisher growls before activating his iconic green night vision lenses. "Consider this a teaching moment." Fisher will be included as part of the Operation Shadow Legacy update, and will go by the name Specialist Zero. A full reveal will tell us more about his role in Siege on August 16th.
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As cool as this is, you have to wonder why Ubisoft is once again dancing around just giving us a new Splinter Cell game. Over the last year or so, we've had Sam Fisher show up in Ghost Recon: Wildlands and Tom Clancy's Elite Squad. Hell, we're even getting an animated Splinter Cell series on Netflix. Clearly Ubisoft hasn't forgotten about the character, so why isn't he starring in his own game?
There was some hope on the horizon recently, when Sam Fisher's Italian voice Luca Ward teased that he'd worked on a new Splinter Cell, describing it as a "conclusive episode". He added that it was supposed to launch this year, before COVID-19 impacted Ubisoft's release plans.
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"There is this return of Splinter Cell that is supposed to be a conclusive episode, but I'm not sure about this part," said Ward. "They have not yet figured out whether to do it in 2021. It was going to release in 2020, and then COVID-19 happened, and several big projects in 2020 got delayed. Others went on, like Cyberpunk 2077 on which I have almost finished working. But I am sure that Splinter Cell will return, this is a fact."
Could it be that Ward got his wires crossed, and was referring to this Rainbow Six Siege crossover? It's certainly not impossible. While we don't know when - or if - Fisher will once again take a starring role, we can at least make as much positive noise as possible about his latest cameo to remind Ubisoft that people really, really love Splinter Cell.
Featured Image Credit: UbisoftTopics: Rainbow Six Siege, Splinter Cell, Ubisoft