20 Stupid Decisions That Destroyed Their Franchise

If there was any stealth-action franchise that gave Metal Gear Solid a run for its money in the 2000s, it’s Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell.

Across the decade, fans received four extremely enjoyable console entries – the self-titled original, Pandora Tomorrow, Chaos Theory, and Double Agent – that put more weight on complex covertness, sensible plot beats, and enticing gadget flexibility compared to MGS. Even the main protagonist/voice actor pairing of Sam Fisher/Michael Ironside offered a markedly different but arguably equivalent experience to MGS’ union of Solid Snake/David Hayter.

Like virtually all worthwhile continuations, each one brought new things to the table without sacrificing the essence of Splinter Cell’s winning formula. Well, that is until 2010’s Conviction and – to a much lesser extent – 2013’s Blacklist sidelined being sneaky.

Conviction was designed to welcome newcomers by moving away from what the creators felt was too “hardcore” about past chapters. That meant introducing new features such as “Mark & Execute” and “Last Known Position,” respectively, so gamers could shoot multiple targets at once and avoid alerted guards by seeing their silhouettes. Accordingly, stealth mechanics such as hacking, lock picking, whistling and hiding bodies were removed.

Predictably, this upset a healthy portion of the audience, which is why the improved but underappreciated Blacklist – which controversially lost Michael Ironside – underperformed financially and put Splinter Cell on ice.