For the first time in a Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six game, players will engage in sieges, a new style of assault where enemies have the means to transform their environments into modern strongholds while Rainbow Six teams lead the assault to breach the enemy’s position. Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege gives players unprecedented control over their ability to fortify their position - by reinforcing walls and floors, using barbed wire, deployable shields and mines, and more - or breach the enemies’ using observation drones, sheet charges, rappelling, and more. The fast pace, lethality and uniqueness of each siege sets a new bar for intense firefights, strategic gameplay and competitive gaming.

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege also features a technological breakthrough that redefines the way players interact with a game environment. Leveraging Ubisoft Montreal’s proprietary Realblast engine, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege incorporates procedural destruction that is realistic and unscripted, meaning the environment reacts authentically, distinctively and dynamically, based on variables like the caliber of bullets or the amount of explosives used. This advance allows players to leverage destruction in meaningful ways. Walls can be shattered, opening new lines of fire. Ceilings and floors can be breached to create new access points. This ability to modify the level design in real time enables players to create new gameplay opportunities directly within the game level.

Ubisoft announced an ambitious 2022 roadmap for Rainbow Six Siege, which recently surpassed the 80 million player milestone. Year 7 will bring new maps for the first time in three years, new permanent game modes including Team Deathmatch, continued efforts to encourage positive player behavior, and many more updates.

During Year 6, Rainbow Six Siege introduced four new Operators, multiple thorough map reworks, numerous Operator balancing updates, Privacy Mode, UI and HUD improvements, and more. In Year 7, Ubisoft continues its long-term commitment to make Rainbow Six Siege an exciting, thoughtful, and fair game.

Year 7 Roadmap

Demon Veil, the first season of Year 7, will bring the Japanese Defender Azami, a new country club map set in Ireland, and a Team Deathmatch permanent game mode. Season 2 will introduce a Belgian Operator and an exclusive Team Deathmatch map set in Greece. Season 3’s Operator arrives from Singapore, bringing a new competitive map. The last Operator of the year will be from Colombia.

Player Behavior & Reputation System

Throughout Year 7, the development team will take steps towards addressing specific player behavior to further anti-cheat efforts introduced in Year 6 like the Reputation System. Season 1 introduces improvements towards detecting griefing and player disconnects. Season 2 tackles players who misuse friendly fire through sanctions restricting reverse friendly fire as well as improving match cancellations.

In Season 3, players can access reporting options in Match Replay to address harassment in voice and video chat. Season 3 also introduces Reputation Scores for players, which will launch in Season 4 and start deploying rewards and sanctions to block repeat offenders. In Year 7, the development team strives to meet their continued goal of creating a secure and fair environment.

Year 7 Pass

From tomorrow until March 21, players can purchase the limited-time Year Pass for $40 or the Premium Year Pass for $60. The Year Pass unlocks the four seasonal Battle Passes – which includes a 14-day early access to new Operators when they launch – while the Premium Year Pass unlocks four Battle Passes, the early access to new Operators, exclusive Exotic weapon skins, VIP credits, and more. Players who purchase the Premium Year Pass will also unlock 20 extra Tiers out of 100, receiving rewards quicker.

Console Gameplay

Console players will receive several dedicated updates this year including aim control personalization, new controller input presets, and field of view settings.

Onboarding Features

To better introduce new players to Rainbow Six Siege, Year 7 adds a Shooting Range: playable spaces to practice, train, and experiment without the pressure of a match. Another onboarding tool, Operator Tips, will let players get to know each Operator, their gadgets, and any tips that might be helpful for Attacker or Defender strategies.

Balancing And Playlist Updates

The development team will continue reworking several Operators this year including Zero, Bandit, Dokkaebi, and Thatcher. Year 7 will add Team Deathmatch and Arcade permanently to the playlist, as well as revamping the Ranked experience to reflect a player’s progression better.

Rainbow Six Siege will be adding cross-play and cross-progression near the end of 2022.

Roadmap for the game’s competitive ecosystem in Year 7 and beyond

At the Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Invitational 2022, Rainbow Six Siege’s most prestigious esports competition of the year, Ubisoft announced the roadmap for the game’s competitive ecosystem in Year 7 and beyond.

Alongside the content and updates coming to Rainbow Six Siege in Year 7 for the community at large, the development team will be bringing new features and updates dedicated to improving the experience of esports viewers, including:

• Additional observer slots to improve broadcast quality: coming this Spring with the game’s Year 7 Season 2 release, 3 additional observer slots will be added to custom online games, adding up to a total of 4 dedicated observer slots. These additional slots will offer fans a clearer picture of the action going on during any online matches, thus bringing online competitions to the same broadcast quality as LAN events.
• New angles to explore with detached operator camera: in Year 7, Ubisoft is looking to allow to detach the camera showing an Operator’s point of view during a match to put it anywhere on the map, thus providing new angles to explore and new ways to engage viewers.
• Improved replay functionalities: while continuing to work on improving the replay feature across the board, key priorities for Year 7 will be to increase the shelf life of replay files, by making them accessible during the entire game season and adding features to directly select and report suspicious players while watching a replay.

These changes will be implemented throughout the year for fans to enjoy during the 2022 competitive season and beyond. The season itself will kick off on March 9, with the start of Stage 1 of the four regional leagues in Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America, and North America.

With the new season just around the corner, Ubisoft unveiled the roadmap of international events for the Rainbow Six Esports Season 2022, with hopes of welcoming back fans on-site, following strict sanitary measures. Those events are designed to cater to a live audience while Ubisoft monitors closely the evolution of the pandemic to take the appropriate actions, should the situation require it, to continue ensuring the health and safety of players, fans, staff, and partners.   

Season 2022:

• Stage 1 Major - May 2022: United States
• Stage 2 Major - August 2022: United Arab Emirates
• Stage 3 Major - November 2022: Asia
• Six Invitational: while the location and details are still in discussions for the 2023 edition, the Six Invitational will leave Montreal in 2024 to start exploring new locations on a regular basis.

In addition, as the situation around the pandemic remains uncertain, the Rainbow Six World Cup has been postponed to 2023, in order to create a truly unique event for the entire Siege Family to gather and enjoy.

Finally, to continue building a long-lasting, sustainable, and healthy competitive ecosystem for Rainbow Six Siege, adjustments will be introduced to the R6 SHARE program in Year 7, including a simplified tier allocation system for teams in the program, moving from a 3-tier system to a 2-tier system. Recognizing the efforts and investments of member organizations in making Rainbow Six Esports shine, the revamped tier system will reward these efforts with the possibility to move to Tier 1 more easily, a wider choice of team-branded items for fans to support their team, and a revenue distribution on those items adjusted from the previous 70/30 Ubisoft/Organization split to a 50/50 revenue distribution. 

Key Features

• Counter terrorist operatives are trained to handle extreme situations, such as hostage rescue, with surgical precision. As “short range” specialists, their training is concentrated on indoor environments. Operating in tight formations, they are experts of close quarter combat, demolition, and coordinated assaults.
• For the first time in Rainbow Six, players will engage in sieges, a brand-new style of assault. Enemies now have the means to transform their environments into strongholds: they can trap, fortify, and create defensive systems to prevent breach by Rainbow teams. To face this challenge, players have a level of freedom unrivaled by any previous Rainbow Six game. Combining tactical maps, observation drones, and a new rappel system, Rainbow teams have more options than ever before to plan, attack, and diffuse these situations.
• Destruction is at the heart of the siege gameplay. Leveraging Ubisoft Montreal’s proprietary Realblast engine, players now have the unprecedented ability to destroy environments. Walls can be shattered, opening new lines of fire, and ceiling and floors can be breached, creating new access points. Everything in the environment reacts realistically, dynamically, and uniquely based on the size and caliber of bullets you are using or the amount of explosives you have set. In Rainbow Six Siege, destruction is meaningful and mastering it is often the key to victory.

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege is currently available on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and PC.