Tom Clancy's Symbiote Cell

Here's an amusing scenario for you: One of the books to recently enter the New York Time's bestsellers list is one bearing the illustrious name of Tom Clancy. Now, that in itself isn't all that exciting, considering that the author has practically established a fully furnished and astutely decorated apartment in that particular part of the New York Times. What is of interest, however, is that the book in question is Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell.



That name should ring a bell and set off several piercing alarms in the minds of gamers, since it's the title of Ubisoft's utterly superb series of stealth games. Let's go back to the very first Splinter Cell, deep in its development cycle. Ubisoft is rightly proud of the progress achieved, but the company feels that this game of espionage and sleek gadgets requires an added boost in order to make a name for itself and rack up the sales. They already own the rights to Tom Clancy's name...so it doesn't take much thought to conclude that placing the distinguished author's title on the box will bode well commercially. Heck, the game's heavily inspired by him, so it won't even seem as inappropriate as Tom Clancy's Pro Knitting or Tom Clancy's Rayman.

Of course, one could argue that just by being an awesome game (which later received the vastly superior sequel, Pandora Tomorrow) helped it fly off the shelves, it is an undeniable fact that the Tom Clancy name, at the very least, made more people glance in its direction. Unlike Rainbow Six, the game wasn't based off an actual Clancy book and the author's actual involvement with development really wasn't that substantial. The bottom line? Ubisoft slaps the popular Tom Clancy name on their product in order to make loads of money.

Fast-forward to the present time and we see that Splinter Cell is a phenomenon, with total sales almost reaching ten million copies sold across all platforms. We also view Tom Clancy sitting in a plush swivel-chair, his eyes switching back and forth between a blank laptop screen and an empty packet of Raisinets (they were delicious). In a dramatic twist, Tom Clancy draws inspiration from...Tom Clancy! He recognizes the immense popularity of Splinter Cell, and decides to use that to the advantage of his latest name-building book. Now, this new novel wasn't actually written by him (the author is one David Michaels) but nevertheless, it's a Tom Clancy book that cashes in on another Tom Clancy property. The bottom line? Tom Clancy slaps the popular Ubisoft game on his product in order to make loads of money.

This hilarious situation has now officially reached the point where Tom Clancy is responsible for Splinter Cell's success...and Splinter Cell is responsible for Tom Clancy's success. That's damn funny, as well as a perfect example of a powerful symbiote relationship within the industry. Now go and impress your friends with this fascinating knowledge!