Ubisoft has brought David Grivel back to Ubisoft Toronto as game director on the Splinter Cell Remake, Grivel confirmed on his LinkedIn page today, returning to the role he held from November 2021 until October 2022 when he left to “go on a new adventure“. Grivel wrote, “Today, I am very, VERY happy to announce that I’m rejoining Ubisoft Toronto as Game Director on the Splinter Cell Remake,” and called the project “a very special team and project to me.”
Grivel is no stranger to the franchise and to large Ubisoft productions. His CV includes work at Ubisoft Paris on Ghost Recon Future Soldier and later at Ubisoft Toronto on Splinter Cell Blacklist, Assassin’s Creed Unity and the Far Cry series entries 4, 5 and 6, which gives him direct experience with action and stealth-led development teams. Ubisoft first confirmed the remake in December 2021, saying the game is being rebuilt in the Snowdrop engine to deliver new-generation visuals, gameplay and the dynamic lighting and shadows the series is known for. The studio shared concept art in November 2022 as part of the series’ 20th anniversary, but further updates have been scarce since then.
The team has been quietly recruiting too; at one point Ubisoft Toronto listed a scriptwriter role to update the original game’s story “for a modern-day audience.” That hiring push and Ubisoft’s earlier mentions of Splinter Cell alongside other remakes were noted in our previous coverage of Ubisoft’s publisher moves and remake hints in a post about Prince of Persia. See our piece Ubisoft Hints Prince of Persia: Sands of Time Remake Launching Soon, Splinter Cell Mentioned Too for context on how the publisher has been positioning multiple legacy projects.
Fans of the original 2002 Splinter Cell also got a preservation boost last month when the classic game was added to the GOG Preservation Program so it remains playable on modern PCs even after official support ends. Have thoughts on Grivel returning or what the remake should change from the original? Leave a comment below and follow the conversation on X, Bluesky and YouTube.
