Is Ubisoft Underutilizing The Tom Clancy Universe?

gaming, Tom Clancy, Ubisoft

When you think of Ubisoft games 3 franchises likely instantly pop into your head. Assassin's Creed, Far Cry and Tom Clancy. All 3 have been a staple of the Ubisoft brand for multiple generations. Yet this generation Ubisoft has seemingly forgotten about the Tom Clancy world, but why is that?

Rainbow Six Extraction is the only Tom Clancy game we've gotten this generation

If i was writing 10-15 years ago I'd likely be writing an article about how Ubisoft is doing too much with the Tom Clancy world. During the Xbox 360/PlayStation 3 generation and early Xbox One/PlayStation 4 generation it felt like we were getting new Tom Clancy games almost monthly. This is hyperbole of course, but there were a lot. Just to put this into perspective from 2006 to 2022 which is essentially those two generations there were:

5 Rainbow Six Games
9 Ghost Recon Games
4 Splinter Cell Games
1 Endwar Game
2 H.A.W.X. Games
2 The Division Games

That's a staggering 24 games in the Tom Clancy universe in 14 years. Ubisoft was pumping them out like they were going out of style. And they were all good games, with many of them being incredible games. Almost everyone has some kind of fond memory of playing terrorist hunt in Rainbow Six Vegas 1 and 2 or doing some crazy stealth kill in Splinter Cell. So what has happened to the Tom Clancy world since?

Since 2020 we've seen more Tom Clancy games cancelled than we have gotten. A Division game was cancelled, a Ghost Recon was cancelled. Who the heck knows where the Splinter Cell remake is. Elite Squad never came to be and XDefiant dropped the Tom Clancy branding (probably a good idea). The only games we've seen in the universe this gen was Rainbow Six Extraction which had a so so reception. There's supposedly still Rainbow Six and Division mobile games scheduled, but nothing for console.

When will we see Sam Fisher again in the Splinter Cell Remake?

And while there is a variety of factors that we can point to, the pandemic, longer development cycles, live service games being added to, it still feels like there should be more games coming in the universe. Rainbow Six Siege is great and still very popular, but it's almost 10 years old. The last Division and Ghost Recon games are 5 years old. Splinter Cell hasn't been seen in over a decade.

With Ubisoft reportedly struggling of late with the release of Star Wars Outlaws underperforming and Assassin's Creed Shadow's now delayed to February it might be the perfect time for them to turn back to their more reliable franchises. We know The Division 3 is in development, though likely a long ways out.

It's a world ripe for new games and new stories. Why they aren't utilizing it more im not sure, but here's hoping they start using it once more.