Before Splinter Cell became the renowned stealth franchise it is today, Ubisoft Montreal pitched it as a James Bond game.

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In an interview for IGN's upcoming feature series, House of Dreams: The Ubisoft Montreal Story, an ex-Ubisoft developer explained that its troubled action game, The Drift, was on thin ice, nearing cancelation. In a desperate try to keep The Drift alive, according to the developer, the team "made an attempt to impress the [007] license holder." It featured vertical traversal, vision modes, and remote-controlled surveillance cameras, all of which eventually became Sam Fisher staples.When the pitch demo didn't yield success, Ubisoft eventually applied its Tom Clancy license to its troubled spy game, and considered basing it on Clancy's Jack Ryan novel, The Sum of All Fears. Seven years and 11 games later, Splinter Cell has carved out a definitive corner in the video game industry.For more on the secret origins of Splinter Cell, including The Drift's original concept, Sam Fisher's original character design, and how Splinter Cell: Conviction evolved over its many years, read part one of House of Dreams: The Ubisoft Montreal Story on IGN today at 12pm Pacific / 3pm Eastern.

Mitch Dyer is an associate editor at IGN. He's trying to read 50 books in 2014. These are the 50 . Talk to Mitch about books and other stuff on Twitter at @MitchyD