Your first quarter has just cleared up a little bit. Ubisoft announced at E3 that Splinter Cell: Blacklist would release in the spring of 2013, but according to the latest announcement from Ubisoft, Blacklist has been pushed all the way to August 20, 2013.
Considering how full the spring already is, this is most likely a smart move for Ubisoft. August also usually starts the fall rush, so there's the possibility that Ubisoft wanted to make sure they wouldn't get lost in that shuffle either.
However, this does beg the question, what's going on with Watch Dogs? And what about Ubisoft's annual game, Assassin's Creed? Will the next one, because of course there will be a next one, also release this fall in possible competition against Splinter Cell?