Ubi: Splinter Cell: Conviction and R.U.S.E. delayed

12:35 PM on 01.13.2010   |   Joseph Leray

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If you think Ubisoft's recent financial report -- you know, the one that announced online multiplayer functionality in the next Assassin's Creed -- was all good news, think again: Splinter Cell: Conviction and R.U.S.E. have been pushed from fiscal year 2009, which ends March 31st, into 2010-11.

According to the report, both games were originally slated for a fourth quarter release (which would be relatively soon) but have been delayed. No reason was given for the delay (perhaps because all of the games shuffled out of Holiday 2009 have created another crowded season?), but don't fret too much: Splinter Cell: Conviction's new release date is April 2010, which isn't much of a delay at all. Except that, y'know, this is the third time it's been delayed in as many years.

R.U.S.E., however, is a different story. The Eugen Studios-developed real-time strategy game was originally supposed to be released in early February, but seems to have fallen off the face of the earth: no release timetable was mentioned at all in the report. The best I can say is that it will be released sometime before April 2011, cold comfort for anyone waiting on the game. Wait ... Is anyone actually waiting for R.U.S.E.?

And finally, there is absolutely no mention of Jade Raymond's new project, I Am Alive, which might be because it has the least-descriptive name for a major game in recent memory, with R.U.S.E. coming in a close second. The game was geared up for a spring release (like Conviction and R.U.S.E.) but I don't buy it: no one's seen hide nor hair of the game since it was announced at E3 two years ago. There was a vague idea that it might be released during the next fiscal year, but I'm already gearing up to write this one off as vaporware.