“We’re still investing hugely on Siege,” said Business Strategy and Live Performance Director Mohammed Benhenneda during a preview event of the upcoming changes in Year 8 of Rainbow Six Siege. “We’re really preparing for the next 10 years of Siege.”
The resounding commitment to the game from Ubisoft comes in the wake of last month’s trading update where the French video game maker reduced revenue guidance, cancelled three upcoming games, and pushed back the release of beleaguered title Skull and Bones. The past year also saw a 38% drop in share price for Ubisoft, causing a $3 billion loss in market value.
However, prospects for Siege have been bright. An earnings report in Oct. 2022 for the first half of the year revealed an 18 percent year-on-year growth and a new record DARPU (Daily Average Revenue Per User) figure. That indicated that Rainbow Six is earning Ubisoft more money than expected and explicitly “outperformed” expectations.
The desire to keep Rainbow Six Siege going for 10 more years comes after then-Brand Director Alexander Remy had stated in 2018 that Siege “will be here for the next 10 years”.
In Oct. 2022, the game crossed 85 million registered players, marking a growth of 5 million registered players in just eight months.
Year 8 of Siege is set to continue much of the work from Year 7, with an increased focus on reinforcing its “tactical and creativity aspects” of the game, said Benhenneda. Changes such as the reload rework, ADS speed equalisation, and recoil rework have all been aimed at reducing the run-and-gun trend that had taken hold of the game.
“Going forward, it’s one of the elements we even want to put more and more emphasis on,” continued Benhenneda. “That’s the direction that we’re taking and that’s why, like, we still believe that Siege is a unique masterpiece.”
Creative Director Alexander Karpazis echoed his sentiments, stating that Year 8 is focused on “going back to the roots of what Siege is”.
“These are our strengths and we should celebrate them; the tacticality of Siege, the strategy employed, the idea that these are elite operators,” said Karpazis.
Constant quality of life changes have also been focused on improving the new and existing player experiences, with user-interface simplifications, introduction of the Ping 2.0 system already in place, and operator specialty challenges set to be added.
The addition of lore to Siege has also been surprisingly well received, especially for a PVP game, which has further deepened player buy-in.
“I would be lying if we said that we knew it would be… kind of this really well received extension to the game, because it is tough to tell stories in a PVP game,” shared Karpazis.
A long lifespan projection for the game has not come without penalties, however, with the initial pace of two operators and a new map every in-game season now no longer followed. Instead, only one operator is introduced every three months and new maps are a rarity -- the Siege developers have been focusing on reworking maps to improve player enjoyment and competitive viability.
Additionally, balancing operators has become a far more difficult task with 66 of them as of Operation Commanding Force. However, Remy had stated in 2018 that the “vision” of the longevity desired for Siege was to have “100 operators”.
Only time will tell if Rainbow Six Siege will still be around in 2034, but a rebound in viewership numbers for the Six Invitational 2023 could be an encouraging sign in the pursuit of that goal.