For years, many esports and video game enjoyers have questioned Ubsioft's content plan for Rainbow Six Siege. The updates brought to the game and tweaks to the operators have completely changed how the FPS title feels and to them, the game is not what it used to be.
Why was Rainbow Six Siege dying?
One of the community's main complaints has been the TDM meta. For those unaware, the TDM meta is grabbing a high-fire-rate gun and running around the map to kill your enemies instead of using strategies and teamwork. As revealed by Ubisoft at the Six Invitational 2024, the TDM meta is not what they want for Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege. So, we expect changes soon.
However, the big problem with most of the community, especially those who play the game casually, can be seen in how Quick Match works nowadays. The most recent update to the Siege's casual game mode was introduced with Operation Heavy Mettle. Called Quick Match 2.0, the game saw the creation of pre-reinforced walls.
The changes introduced to Quick Match weren't welcomed as Ubisoft expected. Although the studio's goal was to make the game mode more appealing to the casual fan base, especially those who had just joined Siege, those experienced players who enjoyed Quick Match got furious: pre-reinforced walls and pre-made rotations put a limit to their abilities.
For instance, imagine you are a Siege enjoyer who has been playing the game for two years. By that time, you already have your preferred strategies. One day, you decide to play Quick Match 2.0, but you see that the walls that you open have been reinforced by the game's AI. As reinforcements can't be reverted, your playing experience is severely affected by the game's decisions.
Operation Heavy Mettle was introduced in September 2023. Usually, when a new season arrives at Rainbow Six Siege, the numbers on Steam Charts go significantly up. Although this was the case again, two huge drops in the average monthly player count happened shortly after the introduction of the changes.
Luckily for Siege, the introduction of Operation Deep Freeze at the end of 2023 was a success and the game is now back to September's numbers from last year. With the FPS title being extremely popular on PlayStation and Xbox, it is safe to say that Rainbow Six Siege is alive.
Why is Rainbow Six Siege alive?
The Six Invitational 2024 and the changes announced for Year 9 and Operation Deadly Omen will keep Rainbow Six Siege alive. But, why are we saying that?
Let's focus on the competitive aspect first. The Six Invitational 2024 will be remembered as one of the best esports tournaments ever. With 9,000 spectators in the stands and breaking any possible streaming record for Siege, the community is hyped again.
It's important to mention that BLAST chief business officer Leo Matlock admitted the company made a profit from the 2023 financial year, which is somrthing hard to see in the ongoing esports winter.
With unique storylines like the twins' rivalship at the Six Invitational 2024 Grand Final and the numbers constantly growing, organizations that had left the Siege scene could be on their way back.
Then, we have the changes that will be introduced in Year 9. Ubisoft has promised to step up its efforts in its battle against cheaters, which is big news to a community deeply concerned about the future of the game. Projects like MouseTrap have had a huge success so far.
Moreover, changes to weapon balances, the re-introduction of the ACOG scope, and operator balancing have got the community extremely excited. Now, it's Ubisoft's job to keep it like that for the foreseeable future.