SPLINTER FACTION

UBISOFT TORONTO is still fighting to build a reputation it can be proud of

- Jeremy Peel

It is the blessing and the curse of the younger sibling. On the one hand, the benefit of walking on ground already broken by the elder child, pre-flattened for ease of passage. On the other, the identity-smothering disappointment of the hand-me-down.

Ubisoft Toronto was built in the shadow of the publisher’s flagship studio in Montreal—an enormous ideas factory responsible for Splinter Cell, Prince of Persia, and Assassin’s Creed, the very foundations of the Ubi empire. Montreal’s brightest lights were sent to Ontario’s capital to establish the new outpost: Producer extraordinaire Jade Raymond, who has since specialized in manifesting AAA studios, and the creative director Maxime Béland.

The latter brought with him a blueprint for what was, back in 2010, a shockingly modern take on the stealth game. At Ubi Montreal, Béland had led development on Splinter Cell: Conviction, a series reboot that had applied his experience with Rainbow Six: Vegas, a cover shooter, to espionage. The result was a game that played with light and shadow, but paradoxically hinged on a move called ‘mark and execute’—which saw Sam Fisher plug enemies in slo-mo as if they were melons lined up on a plank of wood. Conviction was acclaimed but controversial—a wobbly and dangerous jumping off point for a new studio.

Yet in making its follow-up, Ubi Toronto proved a talent for consolidation. Splinter Cell: Blacklist neither reversed Conviction’s bold changes, nor doubled down on its aggression at the expense of other approaches. Instead, it folded in the tools of traditional Splinter Cell