QuidProKuo here with a message for you guys from Alex Parizeau:

Hey Guys,

Alex Parizeau here, the Producer for Splinter Cell Conviction. Many of you have a lot to say about the co-op mode in Splinter Cell Conviction and I figured I’d take a moment to give you some insight into the process that led its creation and give you a better understanding of the choices we made.

Right off the bat I want to say that story is vital to us and it was one of our key reasons for going with a co-op mode. We wanted to expand on the events of SCC while still offering a robust multiplayer experience. This was best done via a co-op scenario and it also gave us an opportunity to answer some key questions from the single-player campaign storyline such as where the EMP weapons come from, and what Kobin did to set up the events that occur in SCC.

Other key factors which led to the creation of this co-op mode were the Mark & Execute and Last Known Position mechanics from the single-player game. We wanted to implement these core features into multiplayer and it didn’t take us long to discover that the nature M&E and LKP were best suited for cooperative play. The Co-op mode gave us a chance to expand on these abilities with great results.

In SCC cooperative actions done between you and your friend will be more specific and varied. These actions will be driven by story and the logic of the location a level is in. We wanted to insure that the co-op play is an organic extension of the single-player experience.

Our goal was to make the co-op mode the best it could be, and I know the end result is a great multiplayer experience that expands on the core of Splinter Cell Conviction. I can’t wait for you guys to try it out for yourselves.


-Alex Parizeau
Producer, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell
Ubisoft Montreal

[Updated Dec. 21]

Official – No SvM Mode

I just wanted to clarify this for everyone: there is no Spies versus Mercenaries mode in Splinter Cell Conviction. Why? The reasons were touched on by Alex, but some more details are below:

From the beginning we decided to make the best co-op experience possible for SCC. The gameplay developed in single-player supports co-op very well because it lets TWO players work together to dominate the enemy and reinforce that feeling of being predatory. If Sam is the panther, Archer and Kestrel are like two wolves in a pack, working together to take down their prey. SvM doesn’t fit this new approach to gameplay.

We also wanted to be consistent across the whole game with our narrative ambition, and Co-Op is really the best approach to support a strong story.

However, there is one adversarial mode: the face-off, consisting of spy versus spy, with hostile AI thrown into the mix.

Again, just to make sure we’re all clear here, there is no SvM mode in SCC and there are no plans to have it come in the future as DLC.

-QuidProKuo
Community Developer