Honestly, it’s been over a decade since we last saw Sam Fisher in a game that actually focused on him. Not a cameo in Ghost Recon, not a skin in Rainbow Six Siege, and not a mobile game crossover that nobody asked for. Since Splinter Cell: Blacklist dropped in 2013, the franchise has basically been the industry's biggest ghost. But 2026 feels different. With the remake finally "cruising along" at Ubisoft Toronto and a Netflix series out in the wild, the conversation is shifting from "where is he?" to "how do they not mess this up?"
There’s a massive misconception that Splinter Cell is just another action-stealth game. It’s not. If you try to play the original trilogy like Uncharted or even modern Assassin’s Creed, you’ll die. Fast. It’s a series built on the tension of a light meter and the sound of gravel under your boots.
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The Remake: What's Actually Happening in 2026
People are getting impatient. I get it. The remake of the original 2002 classic was announced back in late 2021, and we’ve seen almost nothing. But here’s the reality of modern game dev: you can’t just "upscale" a game from the early 2000s and call it a day. Ubisoft Toronto is rebuilding the whole thing in the Snowdrop engine—the same tech behind The Division and Star Wars Outlaws.
The big news recently is the return of David Grivel. He was the director who left Ubisoft in 2022 to go work on Battlefield, but he actually came back to Ubisoft Toronto in late 2025. That’s a huge win. Usually, when a director leaves, a project enters "development hell." Him coming back suggests the vision is stable. Insiders, including Mike Straw from Insider Gaming, have pointed toward a late 2026 release window. It’s a narrow window, especially with the industry's habit of delays, but the project is very much alive.
They aren't just changing the graphics. They’re rewriting the script to "update it for a modern audience," which has some purists worried. But basically, the core is still there: slow, methodical stealth where the darkness is your only friend.
The Sam Fisher Voice Dilemma
We have to talk about Michael Ironside. For most fans, Ironside is Sam Fisher. When Ubisoft replaced him with Eric Johnson in Blacklist for performance capture reasons, it felt wrong. It sounded like a 30-year-old was voicing a 50-year-old man.
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Fast forward to the Netflix series, Splinter Cell: Deathwatch, which premiered in late 2025. They didn't bring Ironside back. Instead, they cast Liev Schreiber.
- Why the change? Showrunners mentioned wanting a "new sound" for a long-term series.
- The Ironside Reality: Michael Ironside is in his mid-70s now. While he’s done some voice work recently, he’s been open about the physical toll of certain roles and his battle with cancer.
- The Connection: Interestingly, Schreiber played John Clark in The Sum of All Fears, so he’s already "Clancy-adjacent."
Will the remake feature Ironside? Probably not. Ubisoft is likely looking for a new actor who can do the full-body motion capture and voice for the next ten years of the franchise. It’s a bitter pill, but if we want more games, we sorta have to accept a new Sam.
Why Chaos Theory Is Still the Gold Standard
If you want to understand why people are so obsessed with this series, you have to look at Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory. Released in 2005, it is arguably the best stealth game ever made.
Most games use "binary stealth." You’re either hidden or you aren't. Chaos Theory introduced an analog sound meter. If there’s a thunderstorm outside, you can run. If you’re in a quiet library, even a slow crouch-walk might get you caught. It forced you to look at the environment—not just for guards, but for air conditioners, generators, and rain.
The "Spies vs. Mercs" multiplayer was another lightning-in-a-bottle moment. One team played in third-person (the Spies) with high mobility and gadgets. The other team played in first-person (the Mercs) with heavy weapons and flashlights. It was asymmetrical horror before that was even a popular genre. To this day, fans are still trying to recreate that feeling with mods like Splinter Cell Enhanced, which just got a major 1.4 update this January to make the old games playable on modern PCs and Steam Decks.
The Business of Stealth
Ubisoft stopped making Splinter Cell because the numbers didn't make sense at the time. The original game sold over 6 million copies—a massive hit in 2002. But by the time Blacklist rolled around, it only hit about 2 million in its launch window. Ubisoft wanted 5 million.
In the AAA world, a "niche" stealth game that costs $100 million to make is a risky bet. But the success of the Hitman World of Assassination trilogy proved there’s a hungry audience for "social" and "tactical" stealth. Ubisoft is betting that the nostalgia for Sam Fisher, combined with the power of modern lighting tech (ray-traced shadows are a game-changer for this series), will make the remake a hit.
How to Get Ready for the Return
If you’re looking to dive back in before the remake hits, don't wait for Ubisoft to give you a release date.
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- Play the PC Versions with Mods: The Steam versions of the original games are notoriously buggy. Look for the "Enhanced SC" mod on GitHub. It adds widescreen support, native controller mapping, and fixes the lighting bugs that make the game unplayable on modern GPUs.
- Check out Deathwatch on Netflix: It gives a good look at the "modern" tone Ubisoft is aiming for. It’s grittier and focuses more on the "black ops" side of things.
- Watch the 2026 Ubisoft Forward: Rumors suggest a full gameplay reveal of the remake this summer. That will be the make-or-break moment where we see if Sam still has his edge.
The reality is that Splinter Cell survived for years on nothing but fan passion. Whether the remake lands in late 2026 or slips into 2027, the fact that we're talking about light meters and trifocal goggles again is a win. Just remember: stay in the shadows, leave the lights alone, and always check your back.