Great news for fans of Sam Fisher: Ubisoft has not forgotten about the beloved Splinter Cell franchise. They've recently added Steam Achievements to the 2013 release, Splinter Cell: Blacklist, marking a subtle yet exciting update for the series.
The last significant update on the much-anticipated Splinter Cell Remake was in 2022, when IGN met with Ubisoft Toronto developers to delve into their design philosophy for the upcoming title. However, in a quiet overnight move, Ubisoft updated the achievement list for the 12-year-old Blacklist on Steam.
Ubisoft announced: "Agents, we are pleased to announce that Steam Achievements are now available for Splinter Cell: Blacklist!"
These new achievements will be "retroactively earned for the accomplishments already completed in your game." To activate this feature, players simply need to launch the game once. "Once synced, the previously unlocked Ubisoft Connect achievements will be automatically unlocked on Steam," the team elaborated.
Interestingly, while adding these retrospective achievements, Ubisoft opted not to include the additional 19 online achievements found on console versions, ensuring players can still achieve 100% completion on Steam.
The stealth-action series is poised for a return with the Splinter Cell Remake, a ground-up rebuild of the original game using the advanced Snowdrop engine. Though details remain sparse, Ubisoft's commitment to the project is clear.
“20 years later, we can look back at the plot, the characters, the overall story of the game [and] make some improvements — things that might not have aged particularly well,” said creative director Chris Auty. “But the core of the story, the core of the experience will remain as it was in the original game.”
In other Ubisoft news, last month saw the creation of a new subsidiary focused on its Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, and Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six brands, backed by a €1.16 billion (approximately $1.25 billion) investment from Tencent.
This move follows Ubisoft's announcement that Assassin's Creed Shadows surpassed the 3 million player mark. The company faced numerous challenges, including high-profile flops, layoffs, studio closures, and game cancellations leading up to Shadows' launch. With Ubisoft's share price at an all-time low, there is significant pressure on the success of this title.