Ubisoft revealed during its Q1 2022 earnings call that it’s cancelling a number of titles in the pipeline, including Splinter Cell VR.
The company says it’s stopped development on Splinter Cell VR, Ghost Recon Frontline, and two unannounced titles.
Ubisoft says the cancellations come as a cost-savings response to an “uncertain economic environment.”
The company announced back at Facebook Connect in late 2020 that both the Assassin’s Creed and Splinter Cell franchises were getting Meta platform exclusives. The company was still hiring for its Splinter Cell VR team in January 2021, with a specific position suggesting the game would also have a multiplayer mode.
During the earnings call yesterday, the company said it would “reveal the future of the Assassin’s Creed brand in September.” Previous leaks showed some progress on the Assassin’s Creed VR game however, which included footage of the game’s starting menu and some written impressions of a level, so it’s possible the Assassin’s Creed VR game is still in the works.
To boot, Ubisoft credits its recent “slightly better than expected performance” this past quarter mostly to its Assassin’s Creed brand and Rainbow Six Siege.
The Montreuil, France-based company has been one of the earliest ‘AAA’ studios to delve into VR games, with titles including Eagle Flight (2016), Werewolves Within (2016), Star Trek Bridge Crew (2017), Transference (2018), Space Junkies (2019), and AGOS – A Game of Space (2020).
It’s clear however none of these titles became the hits Ubisoft was hoping for, so it appears the company is minimizing future risk by leaning on its most successful brand.