Ubisoft have canceled Ghost Recon’s battle royale and Splinter Cell VR

Ubisoft announced today during an investor earnings call that they have canceled development of planned battle royale game Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Frontline, as well as Splinter Cell VR and two unannounced games.

During an investor call, chief financial officer Frederick Duguet said the cancellations were the result of the “uncertain economic environment,” and that it would allow Ubisoft to “even more focus on our biggest development opportunities.”

Ghost Recon Frontline was announced in October last year and was meant to enter a closed beta shortly thereafter. That beta was canceled 24 hours before it was due to start, with the game’s Twitter account post a message to say that they were “dedicated to creating the best experience possible.” It was eight days from Frontline being announced to never being heard from again.

Splinter Cell VR was announced in 2020 as an Oculus exclusive alongside Assassin’s Creed VR. Nothing from either of those VR games was shown. A proper Splinter Cell remake was announced in December of last year.

I was unusually hard on Ghost Recon Frontline when it was first announced, as I had a mini crisis while trying to write about the announcement of yet another battle royale and yet another Tom Clancy game:

I’ll be honest. I spent several minutes during this reveal thinking Ubisoft had already announced a game called Frontline, but it turns out I was thinking of the similarly free-to-play Tom Clancy’s The Division Heartland. The chances of me keeping the names Wildlands, Breakpoint, Heartland and Frontline straight in my head are basically nil.

It’s an uninspiring name for what looks, at this stage, like an uninspiring game. I like extraction modes and battle royale and team shoots and assault rifles, and I know this because I’ve already played several games which contain those things. Maybe this doesn’t matter! Maybe every IP must now have an obligatory take on battle royale, and maybe Ghost Recon fans will be happy that they can now play a mode they like within their favorite fictional whatever. I’m torn between not wanting to rain on anyone’s parade, and thinking this parade is stupid and boring.

I guess it did matter after all!

Ubisoft also announced during the same investor call that Avatar: Frontiers Of Pandora had been delayed.