Summary
- Rainbow Six Siege is going free-to-play with X update, offering casual modes and limited operators for new players.
- Paid versions unlock competitive modes, more operators, and access to Siege Cup.
- Existing players will transition to paid tier once X update drops, with future content possibly requiring payment.
After ten years, Rainbow Six Siege is finally going free-to-play with its upcoming X update. Alongside reworked maps, a new game mode, and graphical improvements, new players will be able to play the game’s casual modes, and a handful of its operators, for free.
Of course, you can still buy the game and its seasonal updates, and doing so will get you more operators and access to the Siege Cup.
Every Casual Mode Will Be Free
Those playing Rainbow Six Siege through its free access will be able to try out all the game’s casual modes, including unranked playlists and the new Dual Front mode. However, the competitive modes will still be locked behind a paywall, with only paid copies of the game being able to play Ranked and Siege Cup games.
The list of operators available is also massively reduced by nearly half. Instead of the 50 operators of the paid game, the free version will only include 26 that can be unlocked through play. Ubisoft hasn’t yet confirmed exactly which operators will be available under which tiers, but we do know that skins are still available for free players.
Ubisoft has been keen to impress that anybody who has already purchased the game will automatically transition into the paid tier once X drops. All current content will be available, and you’ll be able to play the Siege Cup and Ranked modes, although future content may still require you to pay to unlock it.
This change is one of the most significant coming in Rainbow Six Siege X, which is almost a total overhaul of the game’s systems, graphics, sound, and UI. However, free players also means an increase in toxicity, which is something Ubisoft has been trying to tackle in recent seasons, like the overhaul of chat moderation in Year 9.
There have been rumours for years about Rainbow Six Siege going free-to-play. It has been ten years since its original launch, and having a paid-for game receive regular content updates this far down the line is uncommon.
The onboarding process for new players is going to be streamlined in the X update, by having different playlists designed for easing people in to the more complex, tactical aspects of Siege.
The pace is only set to increase once Rainbow Six Siege opens up to free players, though, as Ubisoft has committed to faster content updates in the future, including at least three revamped ‘Modernised’ maps per season. We’ll also see regular updates for Dual Front, such as rotating the available operators and tweaking its larger, more open-ended map.
- Released
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December 1, 2015
- ESRB
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M for Mature: Blood, Drug Reference, Strong Language, Violence
- Developer(s)
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Ubisoft Montreal