Ubisoft Remembers Splinter Cell Exists By Adding Steam Achievements to a 12-Year-Old Game

Good news, Sam Fisher fans: Ubisoft has confirmed it still remembers Splinter Cell exists by adding Steam Achievements to 2013’s Splinter Cell: Blacklist.

While our last meaningful update about the Splinter Cell Remake came in 2022 when IGN met with Ubisoft Toronto developers to discuss their design philosophy behind the game, overnight, the developer quietly updated the achievement list for the 12-year-old Blacklist on Steam.

Ubisoft said: “Agents, we are pleased to announce that Steam Achievements are now available for Splinter Cell: Blacklist!”

The achievements will be “retroactively earned for the accomplishments already completed in your game,” although for that to happen, you need to boot up the game at least once. “Once synced, the previously unlocked Ubisoft Connect achievements will be automatically unlocked on Steam,” the team added.

As well as taking the time to add achievements that can be “retrospectively earned,” the developer chose not to add the additional 19 online achievements available on consoles to ensure people can still 100% the game on Steam.

The stealth-action series is set to sneak back into action with a remake of the classic first game in the franchise, Splinter Cell Remake. We still don’t know very much about it other than the new version will be built from the ground up using the advanced Snowdrop engine.

“20 years later, we can look back at the plot, the characters, the overall story of the game [and] make some improvements — things that might not have aged particularly well,” said creative director Chris Auty at the time. “But the core of the story, the core of the experience will remain as it was in the original game.”

Last month, Ubisoft created a subsidiary company based on its Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry, and Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six brands, with a €1.16 billion (approx. $1.25 billion) investment from Chinese megacorp Tencent.

The news came after Ubisoft announced Assassin’s Creed Shadows had passed the 3 million player mark. Ubisoft suffered a number of high-profile flops, layoffs, studio closures, and game cancellations in the run up to Shadows’ release, and there is enormous pressure on it to succeed after the company’s share price hit an historic low.

Vikki Blake is a reporter, critic, columnist, and consultant. She’s also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.