Ubisoft Denies Canceled Splinter Cell Report

Ubisoft reportedly had a new Splinter Cell project in early development that aimed to fold live-service elements into the stealth franchise before the studio allegedly pivoted to develop XDefiant — a shooter that was shuttered not long after launch. That’s the account from Nick Herman, a developer who says he worked on the unreleased title prior to leaving Ubisoft to form AdHoc Studios, the team behind the episodic hit Dispatch. After the initial report ran, XDefiant director Mark Rubin responded with his own version of events.

"I was so excited to be a part of this and help revitalize it, because it's been dormant for a while," Herman told Bloomberg. "And we thought we could tell a great story and do something the fans would love."

Bloomberg says the prototype was active for "a few months," and Herman corroborated that Ubisoft explored games-as-a-service mechanics for the concept.

"We tried," Herman explained. "Let's make a narrative GAAS game. We were trying to make that make sense, and a lot of cool prototypes were made."

The story claims Ubisoft eventually lost interest in that Splinter Cell concept and reallocated resources to a different project intended to compete in the arena shooter space. That shift reportedly produced XDefiant, helmed by former Call of Duty executive Mark Rubin. XDefiant was later shut down about a year after release and saw layoffs across affected teams. Gamespot covered the closure.

"We thought we were going to be able to make something really great," Herman added. "And then you realize that all of the things you care about, they don't anymore. It's a common thing in games."

Rubin — who directed XDefiant and has since left Ubisoft — pushed back on the idea that a Splinter Cell project was the precursor to XDefiant.

"When I got to Ubisoft they had been working on a game for a year that was very ambitious but was struggling to find the fun. And it was NOT a Splinter Cell game," Rubin wrote. "I then canceled that one and let the team pitch any game ideas they wanted. There were some cool ones but I felt the scope/difficulty was too hard on some ideas so we stuck with an arena shooter and we found the fun quickly. So no we didn't pivot off Splinter Cell to make XDefiant. Now maybe they were thinking about working on Splinter Cell before I got there but it was never a thing while I was there. My experience with Ubisoft was they are very open to whatever the studio wants to do which is great but I do wish we could have used external engines."

Saw the rumor from Bloomberg that we were working on Splinter Cell game before switching to Xdefiant. I can say that is not true. When I got to Ubisoft they had been working on a game for a year that was very ambitious but was struggling to find the fun. And it was NOT a Splinter…

— Mark Rubin (@PixelsofMark) November 15, 2025

Although this particular Splinter Cell concept appears not to be moving forward, the franchise itself has other projects in motion: a full remake is reportedly underway, and the serialized adaptation Deathwatch premiered on Netflix in October and has already been greenlit for a second season. A planned live-action feature once connected to the property appears to have stalled, according to subsequent reporting. Gamespot and other outlets have tracked those developments.

By Eddie Makuch

2 min read · Nov 15, 2025