Ghost Recon: Future Soldier Officially Announced

It’s been a couple of years since we last spent some time with the Ghost Recon series, but, if like many of the staff here, you were wondering when the squad based shooter would return -- wonder no more.

Today Ubisoft officially announced that the next title in the series will be Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier. The title is being developed by Ubisoft Paris and is scheduled to hit shelves in time for the holidays. It promises to deliver a fresh gameplay experience that features cutting edge technology and prototype weaponry. Laser beam anyone?

There has as-of-yet been no word on which consoles the title will be supported, but judging from the previous game in the series, you can almost certainly bet that the 360, PS3, and PC will all be seeing a slice of the futuristic action.

It was also revealed that a multiplayer beta program will be made exclusively available to those who pick up a copy of the hotly anticipated espionage thriller Splinter Cell: Conviction -- just in case you needed any more of an incentive to do so.

Here at GameRant we’ve had our suspicions that Ghost Recon: Future Soldier would be heading our way for a while now, back in December Ubisoft trademarked the title Future Soldier and more recently Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot’s let slip that a new Ghost Recon title was in development.

The official PR is as follows:

LONDON – February 9, 2010 – Today Ubisoft announced that Tom Clancy™’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier™ is in development at Ubisoft’s Paris studio and is scheduled to be released worldwide Holiday 2010.

Created by the award-winning team behind Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter® and Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter® 2, the game will feature cutting-edge technology, prototype high-tech weaponry, and state-of-the-art single-player and multiplayer modes. Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier will go beyond the core Ghost Recon franchise and deliver a fresh gameplay experience, with an unparalleled level of quality that will excite long-time fans and newcomers alike.

Ubisoft is offering gamers a chance to be the first to play Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier’s Multiplayer Beta this summer 2010. This exclusive beta invitation will be available for a limited time to customers who purchase Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Conviction™ for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, which releases on 16 April 2010.

I’ll admit I found the previous Advanced Warfighter titles to be disappointing, but if Ubisoft can deliver a fresh take on the old mechanics then I’ll be definitely interested in checking this one out. Ubisoft has released a trailer for this new Ghost Recon title on Xbox Live and it has made its way online:

Are you a fan of the Ghost Recon series? How do you feel about the game exploring futuristic warfare?

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Future Soldier is scheduled to be released during Winter this year.