By Marcus Perkins

Rainbow 6 Siege will receive a vast update called Siege X on 10 June, promised to be ‘the biggest evolution in Siege’s history’. But will this revamp really live up to this claim?

Siege X follows the model of Overwatch 2 or Counter-Strike 2—a massive overhaul of an existing title without fundamentally changing it. The only difference is that Siege X won’t be a standalone release.

It comes as fans have called for a ‘reset’ back to Siege’s older, more tactical roots. Many feel as if the game has shifted towards fast-paced firefights—more akin to those of modern Call of Duty—which ignores what once made unique amongst realistic multiplayer shooters.

On the surface, Siege X seems to fit the bill. However, upon closer inspection, many of Ubisoft’s claimed improvements look like more of the same genre-homogenisation. It seems as if blending games into a near-identical formula has become the industry standard.

One sign of this shift is that Siege X will finally make Rainbow 6 free-to-play through a system called ‘Free Access’. Ranked and Siege Cup will remain locked behind a Premium account (which all current Siege owners automatically earn), but every other mode — including the new Unranked playlist—will be open to everyone. Rather than relying on game sales, Ubisoft will now chase a cosmetic-driven revenue model.

Whilst free-to-play isn’t necessarily disastrous—many other titles have thrived with a free-to-play model—several players worry that this will open Siege up to an influx of cheaters and bots. Other free-to-play shooters, such as Counter-Strike, Call of Duty: Warzone, and Apex Legends, have struggled with rampant cheating for years. Considering that Siege blocks new players from Ranked until they reach level 50, and returning veterans must play a few casual games to counter skill decay, a vast increase in the number of cheaters and bots in these lobbies would worsen the onboarding experience. Ubisoft could respond with even stricter anti-cheat and anti-toxicity measures—systems that have been accused of reducing performance and punishing innocent players.

However, with key sites such as Instant Gaming already selling the game for just £6.12 (about one-third of the retail price), Siege already has a low cost, which does little to discourage cheaters. In that sense, making the game free might not spike cheat rates significantly, and a boost in players and community activity generally could be worth it.On the contrary, many fans don’t trust Siege’s anti-cheat at this point, since Xim (a mouse adapter) and mouse-and-keyboard users on consoles have frequently avoided bans despite Ubisoft’s efforts for years. Still, some say they’re ‘looking forward to’ Siege X going free-to-play: it will let friends play together on consoles—even those that require paid subscriptionsfor online gaming—with no additional cost.

Whilst some of the more broader Siege X changes may have a nuanced effect, what’s more telling is what’s missing from trailers, expos, and changelogs. There are no mentions of anything to improve match flow—nothing aimed at returning the meta to a slower, more tactical pace. This is the primary reason many fans are somewhat disappointed by Siege X — Ubisoft presents Siege X as a foundational rework that will make the game better for everyone, but also sidesteps the fact that Rainbow 6 is overdue for a new engine and ignores lessons learnt from past controversies. A new engine will eventually be needed to fix long – standing stuttering issues and allow larger environments without framerate drops, and Ubisoft previously listened to fan feedback on perceived censorship in 2018—so why does Siege X appear to ignore today’s community wishes? Most changes are fairly basic. Major tweaks include:

• graphic and audio updates (new shadow behaviour and improved footstep clarity)

• design and lighting upgrades (for five of twenty-six maps)

• the introduction of destructibles (gas pipes, fire extinguishers, and metal detectors)

• and a new game mode, Dual Front (focussed on map control, with both teams attacking and defending at once, and allowing players to respawn after death and change operators at any point).

As you can tell, none of these changes slow the action down, and some introduce issues of their own.

• VarsityGaming (1.4 million subscribers on YouTube) has alleged on X that Ubisoft significantly mispresented the sound changes in the Siege X preview.

• Some R6ProLeague subreddit users argue the new map design and lighting are too ‘clean’ (making it harder to spot enemies) and ‘really unfun to play with’ —whilst others on Reddit counter that ‘the visibility seems fine to me’ and the lighting is ‘miles better than what we have now’

• For me, Dual Front contradicts Rainbow 6’s core concept as a franchise, doubling down on making it more fast-paced and less tactical—as opposed to other unique game modes, which have been seasonal, Dual Front is a permanent 6 v. 6 mode, solidifying these changes in gameplay.

Other tweaks are mostly the training and balance adjustments that are typically delivered by Ubisoft each season.

Given that this overhaul reportedly took three years, many find Siege X underwhelming. Ubisoft still seems as if they’re focussing on broad trends and market appeasement rather than design consistency or player sentiment. I hope the developers take community feedback to heart, but as it stands, Siege X leaves me asking: ‘Where is Siege 2?’