Information spread throughout the industry that Ubisoft's canceled Call of Duty competitor was allegedly preceded by the development of a new Splinter Cell installment. The message seemed serious and gave the impression that the publisher was trying to replicate the success of Call of Duty at any cost.
The result was difficult for the company: despite initial interest, XDefiant was shut down, and the team ceased to exist. The question arose - why sacrifice the Sam Fisher brand for such a project?
XDefiant producer Mark Rubin stated that the rumor is unfounded. According to him, the story is completely fabricated, and Ubisoft was not working on Splinter Cell at that time. The team was working on a completely different, large and ambitious project that they never found "fun." Details are not disclosed, but it is known for sure that it had nothing to do with the series that Bloomberg was talking about.
Rubin added that after the closure of that prototype, he allowed the team to propose ideas for new games. Several options appeared, but their scale and complexity turned out to be excessive. Therefore, the studio settled on an arena shooter - and it was there that they quickly found a working gameplay formula. He emphasized that XDefiant did not become a replacement for Splinter Cell, and the idea of such a thing before his arrival could only exist in speculation. According to him, Ubisoft usually supports the creative decisions of studios, although he himself lacked the ability to use external engines.
