September 4, 2019 Gamestop’s mysterious Splinter Cell goggles have returned.
A new Splinter Cell title may be closer than you think. Overnight, a set of night-vision goggles appeared on retailer Gamestop’s website, suggesting that Sam Fisher’s next outing might not be too far away.
The listing, which appeared last night, is for a set of replica goggles, modelled after the stealth series’ iconic headgear, set to release on November 1, and priced at $39.99. Far more interesting than those details, however, is what’s listed in the product description.
Gamestop has already taken the listing down, but as this is the internet, nothing is ever really gone. Thanks to screenshots posted to Reddit, that means we can check out that description for ourselves. It reads “for the first time since the introduction of Splinter Cell in 2002, after nine top-selling AAA+ titles, and with the 10th release one the horizon, this is your first chance to own Sam Fisher’s signature Ultra High-Frequency Sonar Goggles.” Let’s break that down, shall we?
Is there a new splinter cell game?
There’s no official word on a new Splinter Cell game just yet, but evidence seems to be mounting.
The Splinter Cell fandom currently lists nine entries in the series, with a tenth listing accounted for by the two cross-generational releases of 2006’s Double Agent. At the bottom of the list is an entry for an unconfirmed future entry, speculatively titled Omega Protocol.
Presumably, Gamestop’s suggestion mention of a tenth title is based around the doubling-up of Double Agent, as the next mainline Splinter Cell game will technically be the ninth game in the series. Either way, the suggestion that a new title is “on the horizon” is the biggest hint we’ve had so far that Splinter Cell’s return might not be too far away.
It’s worth noting, as per the tweet below, that these goggles have been seen before. A listing popped up ahead of the company’s E3 showcase back in June, but was swiftly pulled down.
GameStop had these Splinter Cell Sam Fischer goggles up for preorder as an E3 collectible yesterday but for some reason delisted them today pic.twitter.com/9sFXdIrWBB
— Wario64 (@Wario64) June 3, 2019
And this is definitely not the first time we’ve heard about Fisher’s future this year. Division 2 Creative Director Julian Gerighty dropped some tweets ahead of E3 in which he seemed to casually announce a new Splinter Cell game. Those tweets came to nothing, but elsewhere, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot also said that “there are now some people who are looking at and taking care of the brand.”
For now, however, we’ve got nothing more to go on, and we’ll probably be waiting a while for an official announcement. We’ve reached out to Ubisoft for more information, and we’ll update this article if we hear more.