At the Six Invitational 2025 Ubisoft announced that big changes were coming to Rainbow Six Siege for the game's 10th year. Dubbed Siege X (the roman numeral for 10) two of the biggest changes are Dual Front, which is the new 6v6 mode, and the game going (partially) free-to-play. In the world of Siege players, both of these are major changes. While the majority of changes are coming to all platforms, Dual Front will only be available on PC and current gen consoles.

First off, classic Siege is still here. The existing 5v5 gameplay is not going away. Ubisoft is not messing with a winning formula; they're adding to it. Dual Front exists in Siege X as a separate mode, with its own map and playlist.

Dual Front changes the classic Siege dynamic by adding an extra player on each team as well as allowing you to mix attackers and defenders. Unlike classic Siege, where you take turns attacking and defending, in Dual Front, you have to attack and defend at the same time. This also means you're choosing from a mixed list of operators instead of planning for attack or defense. After a few rounds of Dual Front, your opinions on how the operators play may change. One of the Ubisoft demoists was on the offensive with Azami and tore through most of us like we were nothing. One of the other journalists won a match for his team by defending (four against one) with Blackbeard.

In order to keep players from getting overwhelmed, Dual Front uses a curated list of operators rather than just throwing them all at you. The list will update on a regular basis to keep things fresh, but the pathfinders should always be available.

The Dual Front map uses a symmetrical, mirrored layout, but both sides are textured differently. This ensures fair play while also enabling players to learn where they are by sight. Just like traditional Siege, map knowledge is key in Dual Front. You need to know where you are, where you can go, and where your enemy may come from.

Progression happens by capturing different portions of your opponent's side of the map in a sequential fashion. At the start of the map, there are certain sections of your opponent's side that you won't be able to access. They open after the first point is captured.

With six players on each team, respawn, and Siege's largest map, death in Dual Front is more of a temporary setback than anything else. It doesn't mean you should play the game Rambo style — there's still an objective — but it does mean that taking risks isn't heavily punished. As someone who is familiar with, but hasn't often played Siege, I found Dual Front to be very approachable.

In addition to the main objectives, Dual Front also features a neutral area in the center of the map where a seasonal activity takes place. This activity changes throughout the season, but for our demo (and when Siege X launches), it is a hostage rescue mission. You are tasked with grabbing Dokkaebi and bringing her to a central location where a helicopter can pick her up. A successful extraction automatically grants you progress on taking over your opponent's base.

Because the hostage rescue activity is optional, how it plays out depends on your team's objectives. You may find it advantageous to press your attack. You may think it's not worth your time and just ignore it, or you may want to focus on denying the opposing team access to the extraction zone so they cannot get the reward. Even here, strategic decisions are as important as your reflexes.

Despite the map size, each section of Dual Front can be isolated nicely to create choke points and focused firefights. Map control is a key element of gameplay, so working with your team to close off certain paths and funnel your opponent will give you an advantage. There are also plenty of vertical options, so you have to think of attacking and defending in a 3D space. Don't just watch the doors and windows. You can now rappel around corners and sprint while rappelling. These movement updates aren't limited to Dual Front; they apply across all of Siege X.

Environmental dangers are a thing in Siege X with new destructible items. You can shoot a fire extinguisher and have it explode to concuss an enemy or create a smokescreen. Shoot a gas pipe, and a flame will flare out the side. When the flame grows too large, the gas pipe explodes and sets a portion of the floor on fire. You can also interact with metal detectors and disable them on a temporary or permanent basis. You'll find these items in Dual Front as well as the five new modernized maps.

Modernized maps are completely upgraded versions of existing maps. Siege X is going to launch with modernized versions of Bank, Border, Chalet, Clubhouse and Kafe. Every season, three more modernized maps will be added to Siege X.

The lighting engine powering the modernized maps has been completely rebuilt to be more realistic, and major surfaces have been retextured and remastered at higher resolutions. First-person shadows have been added, so you can check to see if you are giving away your position (or look for someone lying in wait) by checking for the shadow. Texture resolution has been doubled on both console and PC. PC players will also have the option of downloading a 4K texture pack.

The audio engine has also gotten an update to allow for more accurate sound propagation. From footsteps to gunshots, sounds will echo and reverb in a more realistic fashion. This includes when someone is on the level above you. This may not be as big a deal for casual players, but it may change how competitive players approach the game.

Other quality-of-life features include a new comms wheel, simultaneous pick and ban voting, improved anti-toxicity enforcement using the reputation system, and updated anti-cheat with R6 ShieldGuard. Ubisoft is committing to dedicating more resources to anti-cheat along with live security updates. The team knows security is a cat-and-mouse game, and it intends to be the cat.

For the competitive players (and those who watch them), an esports menu is coming to Siege X and will serve as the central hub for esports players. You'll be able to find a schedule of live matches as well as notification of upcoming events.

The team has also reworked the onboarding experience for new players to make it more enjoyable and ensure they are learning new skills as they play. Every clearance level from 1-20 will unlock new game modes and tutorials. Playlists are grouped into tutorials, bot matches on selected maps, quick match to introduce players to PvP, unranked, and ranked. You'll also have free-for-all and team deathmatch options.

Finally, there is the free-to-play portion of Siege X. Instead of making the entire game free-to-play, Ubisoft has split it into a free portion and a paid portion, with the free portion being casual play and the paid portion being competitive. Free access in Siege X gives you a pool of 26 operators and access to unranked, quick play, and Dual Front modes. If you want to play ranked, compete in Siege Cup, or have access to the full suite of operators, you'll need a paid copy of Siege X.

All current owners will keep their content. This includes operators, progression, skins, etc. Current owners will also be treated as paid owners of Siege X, so you keep access to all of the competitive content. You don't have to re-buy anything to get access to ranked or Siege Cup. Veteran players will also be granted a badge that shows the year they started playing Siege and a reward for every year of play.

Going forward, Ubisoft is planning for another 10 years of Siege X. This means more seasonal updates. Every season will see a new operator (or an operator remaster), a map rework every year, three new modernized maps, Dual Front map and operator updates, an arcade event update, two major events, and cosmetics. Starting in year 11, there will also be a new map added.

Converting to free-to-play can be a challenge, but Ubisoft seems to have mapped out a good plan with Siege X. If it can ensure a consistent onboarding of new players, the community will be on solid footing for a very long time.

Dual Front and Siege X are set to release on June 10, 2025, but you can get an early look with the closed beta that is running on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S through March 19.