"Ubisoft has matured the Tom Clancy brand" according to Splinter Cell: Conviction Devs

 

Speaking to me as part of an interview for a Red Flag Media publication, members of the Splinter Cell: Conviction development team said "Ubisoft has matured the Tom Clancy brand," claimed the company's current DRM system is vital to business, and explained how the series is now less reliant on trial-and-error gameplay. Do you agree with Steven Masters, lead game designer, and Patrick Redding, game director for co-op? Or do you disagree? Lemme know you beautiful chickadees. 

How vital is the Tom Clancy name to the Splinter Cell series? 

The Tom Clancy brand gave us the platform to redefine the action stealth genre when we created Splinter Cell in 2002. Splinter Cell let the audience incarnate Sam Fisher, an elite secret agent.  Ubisoft has matured the Tom Clancy brand, creating Splinter Cell, EndWar and HAWX.  Altogether, the Tom Clancy titles have sold over 58 million units worldwide. 

In 2008, Ubisoft acquired all rights to the Tom Clancy name for videogames and derivative products.  We continue to work on a series of successful novels which complement our existing Tom Clancy brands and later this year we’ll see a novel for Splinter Cell Conviction and also HAWX. As Ubisoft’s aspirations grow, so will aspirations for the Tom Clancy brand and movie epics based on our properties are the next logical step. 

How are both the single-player and co-op game modes less reliant on trial-and-error stealth gameplay? The stealth genre isn't the same as it was years ago.  

Splinter Cell has a long history and is a great brand because it has always revolved around some core pillars that have a really wide appeal. It’s a series filled with tension, tactics, outwitting your enemies and really delivering on the feeling of being a predator. Of course, what it means to be a stealth game has changed over time, as has Splinter Cell itself. We used to have things like 3 alarms and the mission would be failed, the light and noise meter, and detailed radars and maps. We looked at all of these elements and what they brought to the game, and worked to execute those concepts in a new, faster, more action oriented experience.   

For example, we’ve always had a concept of a last known position, a means of playing cat-and-mouse with the enemies; however, it was a difficult concept to play with since there was a lot of guesswork involved. Now we expose it to you, and it becomes a really powerful tool that you can exploit. Another example is our vision of Light & Shadow; where previously you had to manage a small meter, splitting your attention between the world and this meter, we wanted to make it easy for everyone to understand and powerful for you to exploit. In all, I think we’ve managed to create the same core Splinter Cell experience, but faster, clearer, more personal and with the option to play either in a stealthy or more dynamic way.  

There's nothing like getting disconnected from the internet while playing a single-player stealth game and then having the game automatically pause and possibly close. Will this have the same PC DRM as Assassin's Creed II? And is this DRM vital? 

Yes, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Conviction will include the same DRM as all Ubisoft PC titles.  We consider that protecting our PC games is vital to our business and will allow us to continue investing in the development of creative and innovative games on the PC platform.

With the introduction of new protagonists in the co-op mode, is there any chance of the Splinter Cell series branching into multiple character-driven titles? 

Maybe…  but it is too early to even think about having further adventures with Archer and Kestrel, right now we’re focusing solely on delivering the best game possible.    

How is the upgrade system related to the narrative? 

The upgrade system is not related so much to the narrative, than it is to the gameplay. Since Sam is not working for Third Echelon anymore, he no longer has access to their gadgets. However, he’s got some good underground contacts from his old days as an agent, and those will grant him access to an array of tools – including some old time favourites like Sonar Goggles, and a lot of new ones. When the game will be released, you will have the possibility to use up to 17 weapons ranging from: pistols, machine pistols, sub-machine guns, shotguns and assault rifles. Many upgrades including lasers, red dot sights and silencers to name a few are also available for you to transform your favourite weapon into a killing machine!

Why a greater focus on co-op this time around? Has the industry changed? Have consumers changed?  

Co-op gameplay represents the new centre of gravity for what mass market gamers want. The days of the solitary gamer working through a twelve hour solo campaign are, certainly not over, but maybe marginalized a bit. Why? The newer generation of players still wants a strong sense of narrative in their games and they still want well-crafted moments with high production values. It’s just that they just want to share these things with their friends. The Internet generation has grown up thinking of technology and interactive entertainment as things that help mediate their social connections, rather than keeping them isolated. They won’t accept having to make a choice between deep single-player experiences, or ultra-hardcore competitive multiplayer. They want it all.