Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell
A stealth-action series following NSA agent Sam Fisher.
Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell is a series of action-adventure games and tie-in novels endorsed by Tom Clancy. The series follows Sam Fisher, a highly trained agent of a fictional black-ops sub-division within the NSA called Third Echelon, and emphasizes light and darkness as gameplay elements. The first game was released in 2002, and the series has been positively received, once considered one of Ubisoft's flagship franchises.
- first_game_release
- 2002
- number_of_main_games
- 6
- total_sales_by_2008
- 19 million units
- total_sales_by_2016
- 32 million units
- number_of_tie_in_novels
- 9
- latest_main_game
- Blacklist (2013)
Lore & Background
The Splinter Cell series began with the 2002 game developed by Ubisoft Montreal, published by Microsoft Game Studios as an Xbox exclusive, later ported to other platforms. Inspired by the Metal Gear series, it used a modified Unreal Engine 2 for light-and-dark gameplay. Subsequent main entries include Pandora Tomorrow (2004), which introduced multiplayer and a spies versus mercenaries mode; Chaos Theory (2005), adding cooperative multiplayer and a combat knife; Double Agent (2006), featuring a trust system and multiple endings; Conviction (2010), which introduced Mark and Execute and omitted previous stealth elements; and Blacklist (2013), which combined features from Chaos Theory and Conviction and replaced Michael Ironside with Eric Johnson as Sam Fisher. A PlayStation Portable exclusive, Essentials (2006), extended the series with flashback missions. A remastered compilation, Classic Trilogy HD, was released for PlayStation 3 in 2011.
Reader's Guide
The Splinter Cell series is significant for its emphasis on stealth gameplay centered on light and darkness, influencing the action-adventure genre. It was once a flagship franchise for Ubisoft, with strong sales reaching 32 million units by 2016. The series expanded into nine tie-in novels, the first two of which became New York Times bestsellers, and an eight-episode audio drama, Splinter Cell: Firewall, debuted in December 2022. An animated series, Splinter Cell: Deathwatch, premiered on Netflix in October 2025. A remake of the first game is in development, though a virtual reality version was cancelled in July 2022. The series' legacy includes its innovative multiplayer modes and its portrayal of a covert NSA operative, though later entries saw changes in gameplay direction and voice actor.
Did You Know?
- The first Splinter Cell novel spent three weeks on the New York Times bestseller list.
- Double Agent is the only game in the series with different endings based on player decisions, but only one ending is considered canon.
- A virtual reality version of the series was announced in September 2020 but cancelled in July 2022.
- The series had sold 19 million units by 2008 and 32 million by 2016.
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