Sam Fisher, the hero of Ubisoft’s dormant Splinter Cell franchise, will soon join the Rainbow Six Siege lineup. Ubisoft Montreal teased the Third Echelon spymaster in a video Tuesday, promising a full reveal on Sunday at 2 p.m. ET.
The reaction from the community? Well ... it’s not the unconditional raving Ubi might have been hoping for. Rainbow 6’s subreddit was modestly enthusiastic, stoked by an in-world communiqué from the operator Finka to Rainbow boss Harry Padney.
“It’s strange seeing him after all these years — in some ways he has not changed at all, but in others?” says Finka, whose father evidently knew Sam. “He’s aged well, at least.”
Redditors immediately noted this isn’t Michael Ironside’s gravelly voice, as the actor hasn’t voiced Fisher in a Splinter Cell game since 2010’s Conviction. Ironside missed 2013’s Blacklist because he was diagnosed and receiving treatment for prostate cancer, but he did return to the role for a crossover event with Ghost Recon: Wildlands in 2018.
YouTube commenters were a lot snarkier: “At this rate Sam Fisher’s gonna be featured in every single Ubisoft game except his own,” said one commenter. “Raving Rabbids vs. Sam Fisher DLC, anyone?”
“‘You should know better than to write me off’ as Ubi does everything but make a new Splinter Cell game,” cracked another.
In the seven years since Blacklist, Fisher has appeared in Wildlands and Ghost Recon: Breakpoint, and has been an Easter egg reference in 2019’s The Division 2 and Far Cry: New Dawn.
Fans had been expecting Fisher to show up in Siege since February, when Ubisoft Montreal rolled out a Year 5 roadmap that showed one new character for the upcoming Season 3 represented by a big ol’ CLASSIFIED stamp. Subsequent leaks gave up Fisher’s appearance well before Ubisoft announced the news.
Season 3 will also get a rework of the Skyscraper map, plus the reasonable, usual, and customary timed event and gameplay reworks. The new content is expected to launch sometime in September.
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