The mobile game with the BLM imagery that was released worldwide last year is shutting down its servers.
Tom Clancy’s Elite Squad is a mobile game developed by Owlient and published by Ubisoft. Although the game is technically part of the highly popular Tom Clancy universe it was a disappointment to many fans after its release in August of last year.
The aim of the game was “to build your perfect Elite Squad. Travel to the 4 corners of the Tom Clancy video game universe. Find your favorite operatives. Defeat them or aid them against their enemies to recruit them into your Squad.”
The game featured:
- Real Time Actions – Lead your squad in dynamic 5v5 shooting battles, control their movements on the battlefield and trigger their powerful unique abilities.
- Upgrade – Train and equip your soldiers with hundreds of weapons and gears… to unleash their full potential and build the deadliest squad.
- Game Modes – Discover 4 game modes (PvP Arena, Campaign, Guilds & Events) for an immersive and competitive experience.
- Iconic Battlefields – Battle on maps from Tom Clancy’s video games like “Brooklyn Bridge” (The Division 1), “Presidential Plane” (Rainbow Six Siege), “Death Angel Church” (Ghost Recon Wildlands), “Detention Facility” (Splinter cell Blacklist), and more.
The game featured heroes and villains from Rainbow Six®, Ghost Recon®, The Division®, Splinter Cell® and more.
When the developer decided to use the “raised fist” emblem as a symbol for the game’s villains, it sparked outrage, leading to an apology for the “insensitive and harmful” usage of images associated with historically significant movements such as Black Lives Matter.
As a result of the poor reception of the game, Ubisoft has said via a post on the Elite Squad website:
“It is with a great deal of sadness that we are announcing we will no longer be releasing new content for Elite Squad. Today’s update will be our last, and on October 4th, 2021 we will shut the servers down.”
The reason given for this decision was that “after exploring multiple options with our teams, we came to the conclusion that it was no longer sustainable.”
They went on to ensure that they gave it their best “especially with big updates like season 2” and said it was a truly rewarding experience to work with the: passionate community”.
The game will continue to function normally until October 4th, with Ubisoft hoping that users “stick around with us and have fun reaching level 70 and unlocking all of the soldiers you can before we say goodbye.”
Ubisoft is now busy promoting the upcoming FPS XDefiant which will combine elements of Splinter Cell, Ghost Recon, and The Division.