Splinter Cell Remake Stays Silent, But Ubisoft Is Still Hiring For It

Nearly five years have passed since Ubisoft announced a remake of the original Splinter Cell, and in that time fans haven't seen a single second of gameplay or even a teaser trailer. A new batch of job postings suggests the project hasn't gone dark for good.

Insider Gaming spotted several openings tied to the remake, including roles for a level designer and a producer. The listings have gone up within the last few months, which points to ongoing development. They don't reveal how far along the game actually is, though. Studios hire and lose staff all the time, and a posting says little about what state a build is in. It's also not the first time recruitment for the project has surfaced.

Given how rocky things have been at Ubisoft lately, any sign of life comes with a caveat. The publisher has been through a turbulent stretch, and projects that look healthy one month can change direction the next. For now, though, the hiring is the best evidence that the remake is still on the books.

Plenty of questions remain about what the finished game will look like. The original launched in 2002, and the geopolitical backdrop that shaped its story has shifted dramatically since then. Ubisoft hasn't said how it plans to handle that. It also hasn't said how much the remake will borrow from later entries. Conviction and Blacklist leaned toward faster, more action-oriented play with systems like Mark & Execute, a sharp contrast to the slower, more methodical stealth of the first game.

The series itself has been dormant for a long time. No new mainline Splinter Cell has arrived since Blacklist in 2013. Sam Fisher hasn't vanished entirely, though. He has turned up in guest missions in Ghost Recon and as an operator in Rainbow Six Siege. Last year, Netflix released an animated Splinter Cell series in which Liev Schreiber took over the role of Fisher from longtime voice actor Michael Ironside.

Whether the remake ever steps out of the shadows is still an open question. Until Ubisoft shows something, fans will have to read the job boards for clues.