There are a lot of excellent titles with Tom Clancy’s name attached to the box, and we’ve added a few more for inspection. Some are old, some are new, and some you haven’t thought of trying yet. The time has come.
- Who is tom clancy games
- Three Green Dots: Bringing Splinter Cell to the Clancyverse
- 20 Tom Clancy’s Endwar
- 19 Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six
- How did Tom Clancy get into games?
- What does Tom Clancy mean now?
- Different platforms, different games
- Not everything can come together
- 2) Rainbow Six – Vegas
- 1) Splinter Cell – Chaos Theory
- ‘Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell’ Remake from Ubisoft
- Ubisoft Remake, Not a Sequel?
- XDefiant & the controversy around Elite Squad
- Rainbow Six and The Division are holding on
Who is tom clancy games
Twenty years ago, Red Storm Entertainment and the Tom Clancy brand joined Ubisoft, making it the company’s first major franchise. Since then, Ubisoft teams around the world have been working on games inspired by the work of Tom Clancy, the techno thriller author, expanding the portfolio of games and fans of the brand. To celebrate this important milestone, the Ubisoft News team spoke to teams that have worked with the Clancy brands over the years to gather information on the origins of the franchise and its evolution over the years.
In the mid-90s, Virtus Corporation, along with Simon & Schuster Interactive and Clancy Interactive Entertainment, launched a submarine simulator called Tom Clancy’s SSN. The game was a success and the teams decided to make the collaboration permanent, which led to the formation of Red Storm Entertainment in 1996. The studio worked on smaller projects, such as a game line called Power Plays, which alluded to Clancy’s books, but in parallel, the team was working on a more ambitious title that was to become Rainbow Six, released in 1998.
“We decided to take the essence of Clancy’s feeling – its heroic structure, the idea that one person can change the course of big events – and then implement that in an FPS game,” said Steve Reid, one of Ubisoft Red. Storm founders and managing director of the studio for the last 20 years. Reid told us how Rainbow Six introduced the “one shot, one kill” concept that revolutionized the genre.
“Our goal was to make our game more realistic and definitely break with the run and gun fashion of the time,” said Elizabeth Loverso, vice president of product development, Ubisoft Red Storm. As squeezing the trigger becomes more significant, Loverso explained, the pace of the action slows down.
“The revolution was that we made a game that became a shooter for thinking people,” she continued. “Players suddenly had to plan ahead, think about how they would sneak, when they reloaded their weapons, etc. The gameplay was exceptional and players recognized it almost immediately.”
The Red Storm team knew they had something special before their release. Reid fondly mentions that Rainbow Six went gold on the night (which meant the game was finished and the game was ready to be released), many of the team’s developers stayed in the studio after hours to play it. The game was an immediate success. “We couldn’t produce the discs fast enough to meet the demands!” Loverso said.
When Red Storm joined Ubisoft – then known as Ubi Soft Entertainment – in 2000, the North Carolina studio had one goal: to make bigger and better games. That was soon to happen with Ghost Recon (2001), a hefty, cross-platform title that moved the action from tense indoor combat to war zones and outdoor environments that could eventually be achieved realistically with advances in technology.
The Clancyverse began to grow. Soon, other Ubisoft studios will be inspired to enrich it with even more games and experiences.
Three Green Dots: Bringing Splinter Cell to the Clancyverse
In 2002, many years before the success of new brands such as Assassin’s Creed, the Ubisoft Montréal team was to launch a brand new stealth game: Splinter Cell. At that time, Helene Juguet (who is currently the Managing Director of Ubisoft Film & Television in Paris) was in charge of the game’s marketing teams in the US and saw immediately that the game was promising. She and her team had a groundbreaking idea: to bring Splinter Cell to the Tom Clancy line of games.
“From a narrative perspective, it made sense,” Juguet told us. “Splinter Cell focuses on the spy Sam Fisher, and the gameplay has many aspects of the tactical techno-thriller that are the main features of the Clancy games.”
The success of the original Rainbow Six and Ghost Recon games convinced the team that using the Clancy name for this new IP address would help the game stand out. Juguet recalls that Microsoft took the game on stage at E3 and hailed Splinter Cell as a must-have on their upcoming Xbox.
According to Juguet, Splinter Cell’s innovative gameplay, its strong narrative and themes, and the appeal of Sam Fisher’s character also helped the series succeed.
“From a marketing perspective, the development team created many great pieces that we could use, such as these iconic night vision goggles,” said Juguet.
Juguet has many fond memories of working on the Tom Clancy titles, and one of her favorite Clancy games is the sequel to Splinter Cell’s original game, Pandora Tomorrow, which was released in 2004.
“We chose a name for this game with (brand manager at the time) Xavier Fouilleux, which was a bit unexpected and fit perfectly,” said Juguet. “I also love it because it has such a unique multiplayer mode, with asymmetrical roles between mercenaries and spies. I don’t know if many people remember it, but then it was revolutionary!”
Not only were you able to take part in the fight, you also had to delegate commands to your teammates. To win, you had to use shields, conserve ammo, and play smart. As for the Tom Clancy games, this was one of the faster, but still required a tactical mindset.
20 Tom Clancy’s Endwar
One of Clancy’s lesser-known titles is Endwar, a real-time strategy game based on possible real-world scenarios, focusing heavily on the aftermath of a nuclear attack on Saudi Arabia, which significantly changes the military and political landscape.
While not perfect, the RTS mechanics were enough to make the Endwar stand out, especially with Clancy’s name stuck to the box. The small skirmishes involving various military units were well thought out and the overall gameplay was difficult but fascinating. Unfortunately he hit the flop, killing every chance of a sequel.
19 Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six
The original Rainbow Six made a big difference to the stealth genre with its realistic tactics for break-ins and takedowns. Far from being an arcade shooter, Rainbow Six introduced very real dangers to the player, such as dying with one or two hits.
Focusing on counter-terrorism was not a new idea, but Rainbow Six made it innovative. This would inspire an entire series that is strong to this day, making it arguably the most popular of many of Clancy’s series.
The narrative created in Wildlands continued with Breakpoint, a bland sequel that seemed overloaded with new features to mask the lack of any real improvements to the standard gameplay. However, it looks like Ubisoft is taking another try and making Ghost Recon a battle royale game in the shape of Ghost Recon Frontline.
How did Tom Clancy get into games?
In 1987, the first video game based on one of the works of Tom Clancy was released – a submarine simulator for the PC, which was adapted from The Hunt for Red October. This heralded the start of an extremely long line of Tom Clancy games that would go well beyond the author’s premature death from suspected heart failure at the age of 66.
After more The Hunt for Red October and the release of another submarine simulation – Red Storm Rising, based on the novel of the same name – Tom Clancy co-founded the creators of Red Storm Entertainment along with Royal Navy captain Doug Littlejohns and game producer Steve Reid. The company released Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six in 1998, a tactical shooter based on the Rainbow Six novel in which an international counter-terrorist team is deployed around the world. It was enthusiastically received by the press, and while technically not the first tactical shooter, it revolutionized the genre and spawned many followers.
Good so far. But then Ubisoft stepped in, bringing us one step closer to Tom Clancy’s phantom influence. The French company bought Red Storm Entertainment in 2000 and oversaw the release of around half a dozen Rainbow Six games over the next eight years, with later titles being developed by other Ubisoft studios such as Ubisoft Montreal.
Meanwhile, Red Storm Entertainment has created several tactical shooters called Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon. The weird thing about these titles is that unlike Rainbow Six, the Ghost Recon games weren’t based on any of Tom Clancy’s books, but still carried his name. Since Tom Clancy was the co-founder of the studio, it probably made sense that Ghost Recon games were named after him – it is not known if the author contributed anything to their development.
Only after that something extraordinary happened. In 2008, in an unexpected move, Ubisoft bought the name of Tom Clancy. To clarify, they did not agree to the license to use his name, they just bought it.
The agreement gives Ubisoft all “intellectual property rights to the Tom Clancy name, perpetually and without any associated future license fees, for use in video games and ancillary products, including related books, films and promotional products.” The exact terms of the contract have never been disclosed to the public, but Clancy appears to have essentially given up commenting on how his name would be used and forgoing any future license fees he could get from it, all for an amount that is likely to be multi-million.
Ubisoft said in a 2008 press release that “the royalty savings generated by this acquisition are estimated to have an average positive impact on Ubisoft’s operating income of at least five million euros a year” – so it’s clear the company has already paid a lot use Tom Clancy’s name.
Clancy was free to use his own name in his personal life and most importantly in his books – but when it came to video games and “ancillary products,” his name was no longer his own. Which begs the question: what does the name Tom Clancy actually mean?
What does Tom Clancy mean now?
The staunch conservative Tom Clancy has led an extraordinary life and continues to cause controversy long after his death. He had a working WWII tank that was apparently a Christmas present from his wife. US President Ronald Reagan helped sell his first book, praising it as the “Perfect Yarn,” and his 1994 novel The Debt of Honor depicts an airline pilot committing a suicide attack on the US Capitol building, an incredible precedent for the September 2001 terrorist attacks. Indeed, Clancy appeared on CNN shortly after the attacks, criticizing the lack of investment in US intelligence services.
Legal battles over his approximately $ 83 million fortune continued for years after his death as a result of an ambiguously worded will, leaving it unclear whether due taxes should be paid by his second wife or the four children from a previous marriage. Recently, the rights to the Jack Ryan character have been challenged, and Clancy’s widow is demanding full ownership of the character.
Tom Clancy is no longer a man’s name, it’s a brand. A brand that signals the secret world of spies and anti-terrorism, and a kind of tense military thriller. Several authors still wrote stories based on Clancy characters such as Jack Ryan. It is noteworthy that the covers are fine-typed in the writers’ own names, while the brand name “Tom Clancy” takes up almost half a page.
When it comes to video games, the Tom Clancy brand is effectively used as an acronym to denote an experience that connects with right-wing politics and ideologies, a game in which US military superheroes are parachuted to restore order and bring justice. Released long after Clancy’s death, Tom Clancy’s The Division is a good example of this. As Newsweek noted, the Tom Clancy brand indicates that “the political imagination of a certain conservative mindset is in [the game’s DNA.”
As in right-wing politics, there are heroes and villains, good and bad people, with subtle shades between them carefully erased to tell an interesting story. As George W. Bush said, “Either you are with us or you are with the terrorists” – an epithet that seems to echo on the empty streets of The Division of New York, as Newsweek notes when you meet “rag groups” of criminals who steal to survive “And then they kill them with impunity. Forbes went even further, describing The Division as “a dytopian nightmare about the virtues of big government,” in which the government’s response to “American citizens trying to cope, trying to survive in a post-apocalyptic world” is “to kill everything that moves and carries weapons.” You are either with us or against us.
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Wildlands is similar, portraying what Paste calls “gung-ho Tom Clancy presenting the world.” The game features a drug cartel that takes over Bolivia and epitomizes the long-waged war on drugs that Richard Nixon started in the 1970s. But there is no subtlety here. There is no confirmation that, as reported by the Global Drugs Commission in 2011, “The global war on drugs has ended in a fiasco, with devastating consequences for individuals and societies worldwide.” There is no confirmation that the war on drugs could primarily create drug cartels, stimulating “the development of a massive black criminal market.” Instead, we get drugs = bad, US military = good.
While not perfect, the RTS mechanics were enough to make the Endwar stand out, especially with Clancy’s name stuck to the box. The small skirmishes involving various military units were well thought out and the overall gameplay was difficult but fascinating. Unfortunately he hit the flop, killing every chance of a sequel.
Different platforms, different games
The 2000s started a very interesting era in which players from other platforms received completely different games, even if they had the same name. Rainbow Six 3 for PC from 2003 used completely different mechanics, and its plot was not like consoles, for example, the latter lacked the design phase and could not control many characters. The best xbox version was created by Ubisoft Montreal, and the PS2 and GameCube casing was created by Ubisoft Shanghai, independently of Red Storm. Interestingly, it was the console versions that generated millions of sales.
Ghost Recon 2 differed even more on the Xbox and PS2 / GameCube, as the first campaign event took place in 2011, and the second event took place in 2007. The bigger problem was that the quality was not at this level at the same level, the xbox edition far surpassed the others, which was also reflected in sales. In other games, the view from the camera was different, in others the changes to the gameplay were noticeable, but for the most part it was true that anyone who played an Xbox (be it liquid or 360) fared better.
Not everything can come together
In the case of Rainbow Six: Lockdown from 2005, Red Storm tried to deviate from the previous game in several respects, but the changes did not win favor of either critics or players. Continuing, the heavily plowed Critical Hour fared so poorly at the box office that although it was released in the United States, the European look was mowed down. This did not discourage Ubisoft from experimenting: in 2006, the Ghost Recon series continued with Advanced Warfighter, loosening the rules (our characters became tougher), shifting events into the distant future and introducing the Cross-Com System, a system through which we could issue commands and instructions to our teammates, controlling your own character.
Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter, 2006
At that time, at the dawn of a new generation of consoles (Xbox 360, PS3), Ubisoft really started experimenting: Rainbow Six Vegas and Splinter Cell: Double Agent moved away from their predecessors more boldly, and brand new EndWar and HAWX were born. The first was a real-time strategy game, the biggest innovation of which was that we were able to give commands to our units using voice commands – when the system wanted to work. Everything else was mediocre, couldn’t embed any sequels, he just got another shot with the short-lived EndWar Online, which had been active for less than a year. At HAWX, we were able to control modern fighters, and it got so good it deserved a continuation, but unfortunately sales failed as expected.
By 2008, Tom Clancy was no longer present at the birth of the games, which Ubisoft decided to not only license under his name, but specifically buy the right to use the name – and then slow it down.
“At this point,” Reid told us, “we’re working together on huge mixed projects where everyone has a role and all team members scattered around the world in multiple studios really make one big team.”
2) Rainbow Six – Vegas
Rainbow Six – Vegas and Vegas 2 filled an unhealthy part of my teenage life. These games featured a massive Las Vegas terrorist attack. The Rainbow Six multinational team has been dispatched to contain the threat. It was the tentacle of Daddy’s tactical shooters. Fire suppression plays an important role and the choice of weapons is huge. Coverage was an absolute requirement, as was the use of numerous gadgets.
(Ubisoft)
A small camera allowed you to peek under the door, and from there you might need to use a breaching charge, or maybe you’d rather save the load and the breach with a shotgun. How many non-combatants are present during the storming of peace? It was possible to pounce on a SAW pig sometimes, but in most cases precise rifle fire wins the day.
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1) Splinter Cell – Chaos Theory
The Splinter Cell reduces the action and greatly increases the need for stealth. Shooting firearms in this game will quickly lead to your virtual death. You play as the Third Echelon’s elite infiltrator, Sam Fisher, who can sneak anywhere and do anything when he shows up. Chaos Theory wasn’t only one of the funniest Tom Clancy games, but it also had a great storyline.
(Ubisoft)
Sam Fisher was voiced by Michael Ironside and his pro-acting chops led to a serious love of the character; being an intelligent tough guy also helps him.
In Chaos Theory, emotions don’t come when it starts shooting, but when you avoid it. When you defeat the enemy in complete silence, you feel good. When you measure the movement well, you will feel good, and after passing the mission unnoticed, you will finally take the deep breath you were holding.
It’s a weird story about how one person’s name became a brand – and how that brand later began to live its own life, completely separate from the person it once belonged to.
‘Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell’ Remake from Ubisoft
Earlier, Ubisoft announced that the company was upcoming a remake of “Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell”, focusing on the return of the popular title to production. The game would be focused on Ubisoft Toronto, and now employs a variety of roles in the game’s development, contributing to its overall story and storyline on a modern console.
The first game “Splinter Cell” was released in 2002 and ended the previous year 2013 with a total of eight games in the series alone.
The fictional “Third Echelon” of the NSA is forming to bring back Sam Fisher, a special franchise agent known for his amazing analyst and spy skills on a mission and saving the world.
@UbisoftToronto is undergoing a remake of Splinter Cell. Find out more about the project and how you can join the team: https://t.co/XOeGAfS7ac pic.twitter.com/9gqZEJ9OyJ
– Ubisoft (@Ubisoft) December 15, 2021
Ubisoft Remake, Not a Sequel?
Ubisoft’s game wouldn’t be a sequel to 2013’s Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Blacklist, but it would be a remake of the first game in the series, giving it a fresh look. There are no known details in the game that can be added or changed. Still, speculation revolves around adding a multiplayer experience to the title that is not present in the first and original game.
Ubisoft has yet to announce the release date of the title as it would still be starting the recruitment process.
Looking ahead, the recent announcement by Ubisoft of Ghost Recon Frontline seems to be another step in the wrong direction. Is the “Tom Clancy” franchise in decline and should Ubisoft just pack it up and stop using Tom Clancy’s name in all of its shooters?
XDefiant & the controversy around Elite Squad
However, Ghost Recon Frontline is not the only recently announced Ubisoft game to come under fire from fans.
Tom Clancy’s XDefiant was announced to an unhappy public in July, and it seems to be another step in Ubisoft’s slow decline in Tom Clancy games. XDefiant is an arena shooter that draws on the rest of Ubisoft’s Tom Clancy games to create a mishmash of properties that look uninspiring and don’t respect the series it draws from.
Defiant in Tom Clancy’s XDefiant are factions based on Ghost Recon, Splinter Cell, and The Division. As an arena shooter, it looks good as long as there’s nothing special about the pre-alpha footage we’ve seen so far.
However, as a Tom Clancy game, it doesn’t look like anything we’ve seen before – in the worst possible way. As a free-to-play title, you know Ubisoft uses the name Tom Clancy to cash in on the next trend in modern games. Ghost Recon Frontline tries to cash in on the Battle Royale genre and Tom Clancy’s XDefiant tries to cash in on the arena shooter trend.
Why would Ubisoft play with IP when they could just add “Tom Clancy” to their games, right?
We’re sure there are several reasons why they should avoid it. For example, the recent controversy surrounding Ubisoft’s mobile app, Tom Clancy’s Elite Squad.
It was another “mish-mash” title that used all the properties under the Tom Clancy banner to deliver a title full of microtransactions and optional purchases. This is almost to be expected from mobile games as they can often be played for free.
However, issues with Elite Squad arose when Ubisoft used the “raised fist” iconography for the terrorist factions in its mobile game. The “Raised Fist” is also used by the Black Lives Matter movement, a socio-political movement fighting for equality – controversially labeled by some as terrorists. This appears to be a huge oversight that left a stain on Tom Clancy’s IP.
It has shut down since then, just a year after it started – but you have to imagine that these kinds of problems will reappear in the future without being properly secured. Tom Clancy’s literature will never be without controversy as we enter a different era of international wars and conflicts – however, one has to wonder if Ubisoft is ready to get rid of such an easily recognizable IP by combining it with games that are so reminiscent of cash.
Rainbow Six and The Division are holding on
Considering all of this, Tom Clancy isn’t yet a name that will be forgotten.
Rainbow Six Siege is a game that has stood the test of time and remains one of the most popular tactical shooters out there. It took advantage of the latest trend of Battle Pass systems and seasonal content – continuing to expand along with a solid esports scene.
The next title of Rainbow Six: Extraction also raises a lot of emotions. This feels a little more gimmicky than Siege – mostly because it’s somewhat based on one of the LTM Siege. However, it should attract some of this audience looking to expand on Siege’s semi-unique tactical gameplay.
Moreover, Ubisoft has doubled its Division franchise and recently announced a ton of different media related and new entries to the series. The Division Heartland wants to capture the looter-shooter gameplay of The Division 2 in a free title that should give the series the ability to continue for at least a few years.
Ghost Recon may look death straight in the face, but the name Tom Clancy should be associated with several Ubisoft games for many years. There is still hope for another Splinter Cell game. Simply Fr.