Ubisoft has made a host of announcements around Rainbow Six Siege, including quality of life changes to the game and updated esports plans.
The publisher said ‘the continuous support and additions to Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege from the studio in the past years will continue in Year 6 and onwards’.
PLAYER BEHAVIOUR
First up, Ubisoft said the first version of the ‘Reputation System’ has been shadow tested in the past new season, running in the background but not visible for players.
The goal of this tool is to encourage positive behaviour within the game by rewarding players with a positive impact on the game with in-game content, while punishing toxicity by limiting access to ranked playlist for instance.
This tool – which launches during Year 6 – will be transparent for players in order to inform them how to increase their scores and adapt their behaviour.
A new streamer mode has also been designed for content creators to control their anonymity when playing.
This tool will allow them to hide their name, region and ping, hide everyone else in the match, include a hidden matchmaking delay, hide their current clearance level and profile image.
A first version of this tool will be available in the Crimson Heist Test Server.
The news comes after Rainbow Six caster Jess stopped streaming Siege over toxicity and assault threats.
RESIDENT EVIL SKINS AND OTHER CUSTOMISATION DETAILS
In Year 6, players will now have more customisation options for their operators: players will be able to adapt elite skins and to add other gears in the outfit for a full customised set.
Ubisoft announced a partnership with Capcom and its survival horror franchise Resident Evil. An Elite skin of Resident Evil series veteran Jill Valentine Elite will be available for Zofia, with an additional Resident Evil x Rainbow Six Siege skin coming in Year 6.
Ubisoft has also partnered with creative director Ikumi Nakamura for the release of a series of skins, starting with Echo and Dokkaebi releasing on March 2nd.
YEAR 6 ROADMAP
Crimson Heist, the first season of the Year 6, will bring the Argentinian attacker Flores (the first openly gay operator in Rainbow Six Siege) and the rework of the map Border.
This season will be available from Monday February 22nd on the PC Test Server. Season 2 will also introduce an operator from the Nakoda Nations and a rework of the map Favela.
Season 3’s operator will come from Croatia. During season 3, three maps will also be slightly reworked. The last operator of the year will be from Ireland, and the reworked map will be Outback.
CORE GAMEPLAY AND QUALITY OF LIFE UPDATES
A new secondary weapon is coming to Rainbow Six Siege – the Gonne-6. This one-bullet secondary weapon can destroy any bulletproof gadget and adds an extra loadout option to players, opening new tactical possibilities.
The first version of the Gonne-6 will be available in the Crimson Heist test server for operators; Glaz, Dokkaebi, Lion, Finka, Gridlock, Amaru, Iana and Zero.
In terms of other changes arriving in Year 6, players will be able to control cameras and gadgets after their death, attackers will now have the possibility to change their operators and loadout as many times as they want in the preparation phase, and armour will be switched to health.
In terms of quality of life updates, Ubisoft said that DDoS attacks are down by 90% this year, and will remain a major focus to improve players’ experience.
The development team is also attempting to reduce the game size in general.
ESPORTS CHANGES, INCLUDING PLANS FOR THE 2021 SIX INVITATIONAL
Ubisoft unveiled several key updates coming to the Rainbow Six esports programs in Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America and North America, as well as its new plans for the Six Invitational 2021.
Recently postponed due to travel restrictions implemented by the French Government, the main Rainbow Six esports competition of the year is now scheduled for May 2021.
The Six Invitational 2021 will replace the Season 2021 Six Major in May; the exact location and dates are still to be announced.
To leave room for the Six Invitational 2021, the calendar for Stage 1 has been adjusted in each region. For example, stage 1 of the European League will kick off on March 18th March at 5pm GMT.
Additionally, building upon the learnings from the 2020 season and community feedback, Ubisoft has revealed the updates coming to the Rainbow Six Eesports programs across all regions in season 2021:
- Draws removal: instead of ending games with a tie, matches will be decided through best-of-three overtimes.
- Extended rosters: to allow orgs to compete at a regional and national levels with two separate rosters, orgs will be allowed up to a total of 12 players under their banner, with up to seven players registered for each specific roster. Any roster must count a minimum of five players and each roster can be supported by its own dedicated coach. Once a roster is registered, it is locked until the next transfer window.
- Coaching timeout: coaches will be given the opportunity to pause the game and discuss the strategy with their players. More details to follow.
- Standardised points system at the regional level: a regular win is rewarded with three points while a loss gives zero points. When the two teams fight up to the overtime, the winner gets two points while the loser gets one point.
EUROPEAN LEAGUE
In Europe, the format of the competition will remain the same: an online round robin with best-of-one matches. The nine playdays will be spread over seven weeks, with only one match per week for each team, on Mondays, starting at 5pm GMT.
The last two playdays will be played on a special weekend on the seventh week.
Ubisoft is also revamping the online qualifiers for the European Challenger League, with three open tournaments spread until the end of the summer, granting points and prize money to the participating teams.
The top five teams across all three tournaments will join in the Group Stage the nine National League winners, and the two season 2020 relegated teams, making the European Challenger League a 16-team competition in 2021.
The Playoffs will gather eight teams, competing in a double elimination bracket played in best-of-three.
EUROPEAN CHALLENGER SERIES QUALIFIERS
The European Challenger League Qualifiers will be composed of three open qualifiers spread until the end of the summer. Teams can sign up here, until April 30th, 3pm BST.
The first open Qualifier will take place from April 30th to May 2nd 2021. The dates of the second and third qualifiers will be communicated at a later date.
Each qualifier will consist of a single elimination bracket. Up until the round of 16, matches will be played in best-of-one. Starting from the round of 16 and until the final, matches will be played in best-of-three.
Each qualifier will grant points and prize money to the participating teams. The number of points granted to each team at the end of the three tournaments will determine their position in the final ranking.
The five top teams at the end of the three qualifiers will be joining in the European Challenger League, the nine winners of the Nationals organised throughout Europe, Chaos Esports Club, relegated from the European League Season 2020, and MnM Gaming, loser of the 2020 Promotion/Relegation match. More details about the revamped European Challenger League Qualifiers are available here: https://rainbow6.com/EUCL2021
There’s more details on the Ubisoft website, including info on other Rainbow Six esports leagues.
Check out our video recap and analysis of this news here:
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
