The former creative director of one of gaming's most influential stealth franchises, Splinter Cell, has suggested that advancements in lighting and shadow have made it more difficult than ever for the fans — and creators — of the genre.

In an interview with FRVR, Clint Hocking, who was creative director of 2005's Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, talked candidly about how the more sophisticated development methods actually make it harder to create the shadows needed for stealth games.

“I actually think one of the difficulties with modern stealth games is that the sophistication in the rendering has made lighting so much more realistic,” Hocking said.

“When you think about those old school stealth games because of their baked lighting, the lighting is very clean and readable and very understandable for the player,” he added. “But once you get into this diffuse and ambient occlusion and all of the stuff that comes with it, it gets very hard to tell what’s light, what’s shadow, what’s dark, what’s safe, what’s dangerous and all of that stuff.”

The problem, Hocking said, is that realistic lighting systems, such as direction, can be difficult to manage when so much of the gameplay requires players to huddle in shadowy corners.

“Part of it is also just lighting direction,” Hocking said. "When you go and see a play on a stage, the lighting is often super dramatic. So, you can do it with real lights. It’s just that, you know, these places are often lit to be very realistic and not lit to be aesthetic [for the purposes of] stealth gameplay."

It's a "tough bridge to cross," Hocking added, especially as "people in the industry spent 20 years of their career thinking about how to make things look more realistic."

Ubisoft recently insisted its long-awaited Splinter Cell remake remains in development despite layoffs at the studio working on the project. 40 jobs were cut at Ubisoft Toronto, the company announced in February, as part of the ongoing push to cut costs that has seen thousands of employees depart over the past few years. In a statement sent to IGN, Ubisoft said that work on Splinter Cell was unaffected by the redundancies.

The game itself remains firmly under wraps without any kind of release window. Still, some positive news emerged late last year — when the remake's original director David Grivel announced he had returned to recommence his role after leaving Ubisoft in 2022. Here's hoping more emerges from the shadows soon.

As for Clint Hocking, he left Ubisoft in February having led work on Assassin's Creed Hexe, the upcoming entry in Ubisoft's flagship series that's set to feature a witchcraft vibe.

Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.

Sony has quietly increased the price of the PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium subscription tiers as well as the Essential tier, having suggested only the Essential tier would get more expensive.

Earlier this week, Sony announced that starting May 20, PlayStation Plus prices for new customers would increase in select regions, blaming "ongoing market conditions." Prices, Sony said, would ”start” at $10.99 USD / €9.99 EUR / £7.99 GBP for one-month subscriptions and $27.99 USD / €27.99 EUR / £21.99 GBP for three-month subscriptions, signalling a $1 increase on the monthly sub and a $3 increase on the three-month sub.

Starting May 20, PlayStation Plus prices for new customers will increase in select regions. Due to ongoing market conditions, prices will start at $10.99 USD / €9.99 EUR / £7.99 GBP for 1-month subscriptions and $27.99 USD / €27.99 EUR / £21.99 GBP for 3-month subscriptions.…

Many took this to believe only the Essential tier would go up in price, but it turns out Sony has raised the price of all PlayStation Plus tiers. "Prices will start," it seems, was doing heavy lifting in the wording of the announcement. Here’s the actual breakdown:

1-Month:

3-Months:

As Sony had announced, these price changes do not apply to current subscribers (except in Turkey and India) unless the existing subscription changes or lapses. And it’s worth noting the 12-month subscription option remains unchanged, which to me suggests a push towards the more expensive, longer subscription tiers.

The negativity surrounding the news has continued this week, with many PlayStation fans complaining about the rising cost of gaming. Sony itself raised the price of PS5 consoles back in March, blaming “continued pressures in the global economic landscape.” Earlier this month, Sony said it had yet to decide when to launch the PlayStation 6, nor how much it would cost, as memory shortages fueled by the AI boom continue to hit hard.

PlayStation Plus is still required for online gaming, and with the looming launch of GTA 6, Sony may be getting its price hikes in now ahead of the guaranteed influx of new PlayStation 5 owners when Rockstar’s behemoth finally comes out in November. GTA 6 launches for PS5 and Xbox Series X and S only, which means you have to own a console to play it.

Sony this week announced the next State of Play showcase, set for June 2. We know Insomniac’s Wolverine will be shown there, but Sony is under pressure to deliver the goods, with the cost of PlayStation gaming only getting more expensive.

Photo by Tomohiro Ohsumi/Getty Images.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

The Expanse: Osiris Reborn will be recasting its male protagonist and his twin brother, according to developer Owlcat Games. The developer confirmed that it heard vocal fan feedback regarding the performances of the game's male protagonist character and his twin brother, prompting them to actually take action.

"While the voice actor for the male protagonist and J put in a lot of good work, they felt less expressive than we wanted," said the developer in a blog post. "Because of this, we are changing the voices of the male protagonist and J."

It was noted in a press release that the team is already in the process of searching for a new actor, but it's unclear how intensive this process will be on the production of the game. The Expanse: Osiris Reborn recently held a beta, which got a mixed response from fans. However, it did provide Owlcat Games with a lot of actionable feedback. Thankfully, the full game isn't due out until 2027, so there's plenty of time to address player concerns. Owlcat noted it is also addressing concerns with gameplay, tone, and other quality-of-life elements to improve the game. Fans are hoping that The Expanse: Osiris Reborn will be another high-quality sci-fi RPG that can go toe to toe with Exodus next year.

While it's pretty rare for a game to replace an actor after a game has already been put into the hands of players, this isn't the first time it has happened. Bungie famously cast Peter Dinklage as the Ghost in Destiny, and he was present in the game for about a year. However, fans complained that it felt like Dinklage was phoning it in, and Bungie replaced him the following year with Nolan North.

There are also a number of cases of actors being replaced before a game's release. According to Master Chief actor Steve Downes, two new actors were cast to play Chief and Cortana in Halo 4. However, internal feedback was so poor that 343 Industries, AKA Halo Studios, brought the original actors back. A similar incident happened on Hitman: Absolution, when Agent 47 actor David Bateson was replaced by William Mapother. However, IO Interactive changed course and brought Bateson back at the last minute after fan backlash.

Cade Onder is a freelancer for IGN's news team. He covers all things entertainment, including gaming, film, and more. You can find him on Twitter @Cade_Onder.