Ubisoft started working on a new game in the Splinter Cell franchise in 2017, but soon shut down the project without ever presenting it to the public. This was revealed by AdHoc co-founder Nick Herman in an interview with Bloomberg.
Herman, along with Pierre Shorette and Dennis Lenart, moved to Ubisoft from Telltale Games and was immediately put on the development of Splinter Cell.
I was thrilled to be able to participate in this project and revive a franchise that had been in limbo for a long time. We thought we could tell a great story that fans would love.
For the first six months, work was in full swing: the team was confident that it would create something outstanding. However, Ubisoft soon began to change its plans, adapting the project to the trends of game-services. The developers tried to adapt Splinter Cell to a multiplayer format with a narrative, created several prototypes, but nothing worked. As a result, the company lost interest, and the project transformed into xDefiant — a shooter that was shut down a year after its release.