Tom Clancy's Elite Squad, the mobile game that co-opted BLM imagery, is closing

YouTube YouTube
Watch On

Tom Clancy's Elite Squad got off to a rough start in 2020. First, it teased and then disappointed the hell out of Splinter Cell fans by bringing back Sam Fisher—not in the new Splinter Cell game that people have been demanding for years, but as a character in a mobile tactics game. Then it decided to use a raised fist as a symbol for the game's villains, a faceless, evil cabal hiding behind protesters demanding social and economic justice, a decision that ultimately led to an apology for the "insensitive and harmful" use of imagery related to historically important movements including Black Lives Matter.

And after all that trouble, the game didn't even make it a year: Ubisoft announced today that it has halted development of the game, and that the servers will shut down on October 4.

"This was not an easy decision, but after exploring multiple options with our teams, we came to the conclusion that it was no longer sustainable," the Elite Squad team wrote. "We want to assure you all that we really gave it our best, especially with big updates like Season 2, and it was a truly rewarding experience to work with you, our passionate community!"

The game will continue to operate as usual (minus updates) until October 4, and Ubisoft expressed hope that players will "stick around with us and have fun reaching level 70 and unlocking all of the soldiers you can before we say goodbye."

Elite Squad is a mobile game, but its closure is broadly interesting because of Ubisoft's relatively new interest in free-to-play games. The company said in May that free-to-play games represent "a great opportunity to meaningfully expand the audience of our biggest franchises," and it's taken action on that front with games including Hyper Scape, Roller Champions, The Division: Heartland, and the recently announced XDefiant—which, rather like Elite Squad, mashes up up various Tom Clancy properties into a single, not-especially-coherent shooter.

There's no indication of a connection between the incidents, but the Elite Squad closure announcement comes less than two months after the departure of Charlie Guillemot, the co-head of developer Ubisoft Owlient. Charlie Guillemot is also the son of Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot. I've reached out to Ubisoft for more information and will update if I receive a reply.

TOPICS
Andy Chalk
US News Lead

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.

Read more
Seekers of Skyveil screenshot
Seekers of Skyveil, the MOBA—extraction shooter mashup, is shutting down less than a month after release: ‘We have no choice but to bring this short journey to an end’
LONDON, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 24: The Ubisoft logo is displayed during the Brand Licensing Europe at ExCel London on September 24, 2024 in London, England. Brand Licensing Europe (BLE) event is dedicated to licensing and brand extension, bringing together retailers, licensees and manufacturers for three days of deal-making, networking and trend spotting. (Photo by John Keeble/Getty Images)
Ubisoft closes another studio, announces layoffs at 3 more as part of 'ongoing efforts to prioritize projects and reduce costs'
Storm trooper hero
Another live service shooter is getting shut down, this time before it even launched on Steam
spectre divide
Spectre Divide and its studio are shutting down after just six months: 'The industry is in a tough spot right now'
Tasmanian Devil
Multiversus director addresses fans angered by its upcoming closure: 'You're entitled to what you say and think, but when there are threats to harm it's crossing the line'
Multiversus
Warner Bros. says that's all, folks for Multiversus: The next season will be its last, but you'll be able to play offline 'for the foreseeable future'
Latest in Game Development
princeton review best game design programs 2025
The best game design schools, ranked by the Princeton Review 2025
Sharon Tal Yguado speaking at the 2025 D.I.C.E. Summit.
'These kids do not care about romance': Game devs want to know what today's teens want, and surveys say sex and romance isn't it
Palworld early access
Palworld studio's first move as a publisher is to save a struggling indie dev: 'This is the energy I want to see driving games in 2025'
Yakuza/Like a Dragon creator Toshihiro Nagoshi says his studio's new game won't be that big after all: 'it's not modern to have similar experiences repeated over and over again'
A man with a sausage-shaped head
'Calm down!' says Facepunch Studios: Garry's Mod successor s&box is getting a fan-requested sandbox mode and an alternative to 'Sausage Men'
Hellboy Web of Wyrd
Devolver has a new label dedicated to making games based on comics, films, TV shows and 'cult heroes'
Latest in News
A mech awakens.
Mecha Break developer is considering unlocking all mechs following open beta feedback
Lara Croft Unified Art
Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics lays off 17 employees 'to better align our current business needs and the studio's future success'
A long bendy arm stealing money from people in a subway car
'You're a very long arm. You steal things. It's a comedy game,' explains developer of comedy game where you steal things with a very long arm
The heroes are attacked by monsters
Pillars of Eternity is getting turn-based combat to mark its 10th anniversary, and that means PC Gamer editors will soon be arguing about combat mechanics again
Image of Ronaldo from Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves trailer
It doesn't really make sense that soccer star Ronaldo is now a Fatal Fury character, but if you follow the money you can see how it happened
Junah beginning a battle in Metaphor: ReFantazio.
Today's RPG fans are 'very sensitive to feeling like they wasted time' when they die, says Metaphor: ReFantazio battle planner—but Atlus still made combat hard anyway