Troubling news has been announced for players of Ubisoft's free-to-play mobile RPG Tom Clancy's Elite Squad. Despite officially launching on October 4, Ubisoft has now confirmed that it will be shutting down the game, admitting that continuing support for it is "no longer sustainable." Servers for Tom Clancy's Elite Squad will remain online up through October 4, 2021, giving the game just one full year online. That's hardly what Ubisoft or the game's players were hoping for.
In a statement released alongside confirmation of Tom Clancy's Elite Squad's shutdown, Ubisoft tells fans that the development team "really gave it our best." It points to updates like Elite Squad's Season 2, which arrived in March earlier this year. The team says that it was a "truly rewarding experience" to work with players within Elite Squad's passionate community. It's a half-apology and half-goodbye from a team that clearly had bigger plans for Elite Squad that'll now never be realized.
While Elite Squad's misfortune is certain to be disappointing to players, it's also unlikely to be completely surprising. Tom Clancy's Elite Squad's launch was mired in controversy. Months prior to the game's launch, Elite Squad's opening video was released. It portrayed a raised fist symbol commonly associated with the Black Lives Matter movement as a hostile, terrorist force within the game. Further language in the trailer mirrored political language often used to try and misrepresent the civil rights protest movement.
Ubisoft ultimately issued an apology for the video, saying that imagery used within it was "insensitive and harmful in both its inclusion and how it was portrayed." The video was changed prior to launch, but discourse surrounding the game continued to be colored by the controversy. It didn't help that Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot's son, Charlie Guillemot, was co-head of the studio developing Elite Squad. Charlie Guillemot ultimately stepped down from the position earlier this year.
Ubisoft's going through a challenging period even now, beyond just the cancellation of Tom Clancy's Elite Squad. A report from Kotaku shared details regarding ongoing challenges at its Singapore studio, including allegations of racism and sexism throughout the studio's management. Elite Squad's closure seems like a lesser issue in comparison.
Fans of Ubisoft and its games from Tom Clancy's game series still have plenty of options to pick from, though not necessarily on mobile. Instead, Ubisoft has been focusing on big online games like Rainbow Six Siege, the upcoming Rainbow Six Extraction, and the newly announced Tom Clancy's XDefiant. Otherwise, Tom Clancy's Elite Squad will remain available to play for free through October 4.
Tom Clancy's Elite Squad is currently available on mobile devices.
Source: Kotaku