Splinter Cell Remake Still in Development Despite Ubisoft Toronto Losing 40 Jobs

Forty jobs. Gone. And yet, somehow, the Splinter Cell remake lives on.

Ubisoft has confirmed that its Toronto studio is cutting 40 roles as part of what the company is calling the "final phase" of its global cost-savings plan. That's roughly 8% of the studio's total workforce, which sits at around 500 people. Despite that, and a wave of other cancellations happening at Ubisoft right now, the long-awaited Splinter Cell remake remains in development.

In a statement, Ubisoft said: "The Toronto studio continues development on the Splinter Cell game and serves as a co-development partner on Rainbow Six, along with supporting additional co-development projects."

Right. So they're keeping the lights on for Sam Fisher, at least for now.

The Ubisoft Toronto cuts are the latest at the publisher, following its announcement of a 'major reset' which will see its creative teams radically restructured into autonomous 'creative houses'. As part of the restructuring, the publisher has so far seen the cancellation of six games, the postponement of seven others, and two studio closures. The company is also pushing to eliminate up to 200 roles at its Paris headquarters. It's a lot, whichever way you look at it.

The Splinter Cell remake was first announced back in December 2021, built on the Snowdrop engine, the same tech behind The Division and Star Wars Outlaws. Ubisoft pitched it as a ground-up rebuild with next-gen visuals, dynamic lighting, and all the stealth-in-shadows atmosphere the series is known for. Since then? Near silence. The most recent significant update on the project arrived in December 2025, when it was spotted that David Grivel would be returning to the project as its game director, after he initially left the role shortly after the project's reveal in 2021.

That's a four-year gap with basically nothing to show publicly. No gameplay. No trailer. Not even a shadowy teaser of Sam Fisher's iconic night-vision goggles.

The Prince of Persia Shadow Looms Large

It's hard to ignore the elephant in the room here. The recent cancellation of the Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake, a project the Toronto team was actually assisting with, creates an air of uncertainty for Sam Fisher's return. That remake was stuck in development hell for years before Ubisoft finally pulled the plug entirely as part of January's restructuring announcement. Fans of that series will know exactly how that story ends.

Despite rumours that the game was aiming for a 2026 release, the company's recent organisational restructuring points to Splinter Cell fans having to wait a lot longer for some good news.

Ubisoft Toronto itself has a strong track record, to be fair. The studio led development on Far Cry 6, Watch Dogs: Legion, and the beloved Splinter Cell: Blacklist. It also spearheaded the narrative of 2024's Star Wars Outlaws and continues to contribute to Rainbow Six Siege alongside lead developer Ubisoft Montreal. It's a studio that knows what it's doing. Whether the remake will ever reach players is another question entirely.

Ubisoft boss Yves Guillemot said: "We are making progress on the transformation announced in January. The allocation of studios and capabilities across the Creative Houses and Network has now been announced, and key leadership appointments are ongoing, including external hires of experienced, respected industry veterans."

Whether any of that progress translates to a finished Splinter Cell game, at this point, is anyone's guess.

The broader industry context here is grim reading. According to a Game Developers Conference survey last month, roughly one-third of gaming industry employees in the US were laid off over the last two years. Ubisoft is very much part of that trend rather than an outlier.

For the 40 people walking out of Ubisoft Toronto right now, corporate reassurances about Sam Fisher's future probably don't mean much. And for fans who've been waiting since 2021 for any real look at this remake, another round of "it's still in development, trust us" lands about as well as you'd expect.