Splinter Cell: Blacklist a high-stakes gamble for Ontario video game scene

A group of international terrorists who call themselves The Engineers are launching an escalating series of deadly attacks on the United States. Their ultimatum to the U.S.: pull back your military presence from multiple locations around the world or the attacks, code named the Blacklist, will continue.

The plot might sound like a testosterone-driven Hollywood film, but this a made-in-Canada video game: Tom Clancys Splinter Cell: Blacklist. The first game from Ubisoft Toronto hits stores today on all major videogame platforms, and the stakes are high for the studio's team, as well as for the province's video game industry.

In 2009, the Ontario government announced a $263 million grant to Ubisoft, the Paris-based game company, to found a Toronto studio with the intention of creating 800 jobs in 10 years. Four years later, Ubisoft Toronto has a staff of about 300 and says its well ahead of schedule in terms of the 800-job target.

Toronto has become known for critical darlings produced in the indie sector, including DrinkBox Games Guacamelee and Capy Games Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery EP.But the rationale for the grant was that a blockbuster AAA game the likes of Splinter Cell could attract greater numbers of both experienced and aspiring developers to the city.

• Interview with Ubisoft Toronto's Jade Raymond about Splinter Cell: Blacklist
• Ubisoft gets $263M from province for Toronto studio

The province is also supporting other studios with financial incentives. Rockstar Toronto, for example, received government assistance to start an expansion at a location in Oakville, Ont. The studio, which has worked on the Grand Theft Auto series and 2012s Max Payne 3, reportedly received $2 million in grants.

But Ubisoft Toronto is by far the Ontario governments biggest gamble in the games industry. And this first project is no minor game or a second-line titleBlacklist is the sixth entry in a longstanding series of espionage action games. So this week, all eyes in the Canadian game development industry are on Ubisoft Toronto to see whether it can deliver.

Splinter Cell

Debuting in 2002 with combined sales of more than 22 million copies, Splinter Cell is one of Ubisofts tentpole franchises alongside the likes of Assassins Creed and Rayman.

Several members of Ubisofts long-standing Montreal team moved to Toronto to seed the companys second major Canadian location. Managing director Jade Raymond, the producerof 2007s Assassins Creed, was joined by creative director Maxime Bland and senior producer Alex Parizeau.

Blands no stranger to the pressure. "The sad answer is that every game Ive made has the most pressure Ive ever seen," he told CBC News.

"Its always stressful, its always big. The pressure is always at the maximum. And I dont think its only on AAA games. If youre passionate, if youre an artist or a creator and youre working on something that you care about, you self-impose stress and tension and all that onto yourself."

In 2006 he headed the launch of Rainbow Six: Vegas, another game in the Tom Clancy universe. He also served as creative director for 2010s Splinter Cell: Conviction. But its introduction of more gunplay, direct confrontation with enemies and an overall greater emphasis on action over stealth soured some fans on the series. (Fun fact: when you type Maxime Bland into Googles search bar, the first autocomplete phrase that appears is "Maxime Bland ruined Splinter Cell.")

Criticism from gamers didnt seem to sway the actual critics, however: Splinter Cell: Conviction was praised as the best game in the series, and currently enjoys an 85/100 rating on Metacritic, the reviews aggregator site.

Taking risks

The team is taking even more risks with Blacklist. Early previews in the games press have been promising, but fans have so far expressed a more reserved optimism.

The most controversial change was the loss of voice actor Michael Ironside, who had played the role of the grizzled Fisher since the series outset.

Ironside was replaced by Edmonton actor Eric Johnson, who appeared on television's Rookie Blue and Smallville. Ubisoft said it wanted voice talent thatcould also perform motion capture for their characters.

• Splinter Cell and Michael Ironside: A rocky ride

The team has also made changes to Splinter Cell's strategic recipe, allowing players to put a greater emphasis on lurking in the shadows rather than running and gunning, a return to the approach taken by the series older games.

Game director Patrick Redding said that getting that balance between accessibility and complexity was a challenge that he embraced as a self-described masochist.

"At the end of the day, regardless of how great the production values are, or how big your budget is, games are based on mechanics," he says. "Thats what makes them different from other mediums. Its what allows them to be interactive, its what allows games to produce experiences, or allows players to produce experiences for themselves that are unique. Its what gives games their power."

Early feedback

Despite the pressure for success, the team still managed to have a bit of fun with shout-outs to the studio's home town.One of the multiplayer maps, while based on the U.K. Millennium Mills, is named Lansdowne Mill, after the Toronto street closest to Ubisofts studio. And minor characters were given the names of local sports players, including the Blue Jays J.P. Arencibia and the Maple Leafs' Leo Komarov.

But with the amount of provincial grant money and so many jobs riding on the success of the game, the question is whether the changes and themes chosen by the Toronto development team will resonate with an international audience.

The early signs are positive. On Metacritic, the game currently boasts an 82/100 average rating. The National Post said that, despite "some rough patches," Ubisoft Toronto has made "a game which excels by making all of its moving pieces work together in unison."

Raymond adds that the pre-orders for the game at retail were filled and stores have had to order more copies to meet the demand.

And even as the champagne corks are popped for the launch of Blacklist, the studio is already working on five separate projects, including collaborating with Ubisoft Montreal on an unannounced game in the Assassins Creed series.

"Setting up a new studio from scratch, hiring over 300 people in three years and shipping the biggest game ever to come out of Ontario and the biggest game in the franchise to date is quite an accomplishment," says Raymond.

"The game industry and our team here is full of people who want to outdo ourselves each time, so were setting the bar even higher with all of our next projects."