When Rainbow Six Siege first got here out, its success was not assured.
It was 2015, when the AAA business was nonetheless making an attempt to determine what a service-based recreation appeared like, with an eye fixed on the success of Future the 12 months earlier than. Rainbow Six got here with baggage, too; it was greatest identified for single-player and PVE, and Siege’s transfer to multiplayer-only, at a time when most shooters nonetheless boasted single-player campaigns, made it appear poorer worth for cash.
On prime of that, the French publishing big needed to pull the deliberate November launch on the final second after terror assaults in Paris. The sport debuted a month later to a broadly constructive crucial reception however weak gross sales, and after then instantly working into server points its future appeared removed from sure.
But it has endured. Ubisoft has expanded the sport ever since, bringing an everyday cadence of content material, in addition to squashing bugs and supporting an esports scene. As of February 2026, the sport boasts 100 million players, a good enhance from the 70 million Ubisoft introduced in 2020.
Talking to GamesIndustry.biz, Ubisoft’s VP of selling and esports for Rainbow Six Siege, François-Xavier Deniele, insists that the French publishing big at all times had excessive hopes for the sport, one thing that was bolstered by the constructive reception it acquired throughout the many playtests the corporate carried out earlier than launch.
“We put our recreation into players fingers many occasions – the alpha, beta, open beta, closed beta. Every time the reception was good,” he says. “It was a shiny proposition for the FPS market. We by no means stopped placing vitality behind it as a result of we knew we had one thing particular. We will say that, after ten years, we have been proper about that: the sport is very large.”
When it launched, Siege was an early instance of the games-as-a-service mannequin in the AAA house. It was a change of tempo for the event staff, who needed to adapt to engaged on one thing that was continuously stay.
“The analogy I take advantage of is your automotive is at all times working, however you’ll want to change it in actual time,” Deniele explains. “It’s totally difficult. When the sport launched, it was regular to have DLC after launch. However this was fixed – we needed to adapt to the fact of the sport, so managing servers, balancing, and the whole lot that goes right into a stay recreation. And on prime of that, it’s important to produce common content material as a result of it’s important to hold the sport alive. Folks will get bored with enjoying the very same factor.”
The character of the sport’s improvement “modified drastically,” he says. “You may have to have the ability to create content material each three months, it’s important to have a variety of processes to combine participant suggestions and on prime of that, you additionally have to combine the actual fact you’ve got a aggressive ecosystem. You might want to ensure you stabilise the sport to provide good and truthful competitors around the globe. It is a ton of vitality.”
Today, the Siege staff has a good concept of methods to run a service-based title, although that is to not say it has turn into any simpler.
“It is at all times a problem as a result of there’s at all times a brand new actuality dealing with this sort of title,” Deniele says. “Firstly, the cadence of content material you’ll want to produce, secondly, adapting to the fact of the market. Generally new rivals come in with a brand new recipe, you’ll want to adapt to grasp what they’re bringing to the sport.”
The slew of recent content material that Ubisoft has brought to Rainbow Six Siege over the years is among the causes for the sport’s extended success, in line with content material creator David Ralph.
“The depth and fixed updates to content material inside the recreation are what set it except for the likes of Battlefield, Name of Responsibility and Counter Strike,” he says. “You may have all kinds of characters to study, every with distinctive weapons and devices that each one carry out completely different duties.”
“After ten years you’re coming into the second technology of players”
As service-based video games age, builders and publishers have to strike a stability between attracting new players and retaining their present viewers. For Siege, Deniele says, either side of this equation are necessary. “You can’t simply retain what you’ve got. After ten years you’re coming into the second technology of players.”
“Acquisition remains to be essential as a result of you’ll want to have a brand new wave of individuals enjoying the sport,” he continues. “However retention is essential – can you hold individuals in your recreation? You might want to be very targeted on how you retain individuals after a sure period of time – what we name Day 28, the place we all know that individuals will keep and they’re .”
“That is the place the content material cadence and esports are very robust advertising instruments as a result of it is exhibiting individuals the whole lot [they] have to do to proceed to be at this stage.”
However buying new customers for a recreation like Rainbow Six Siege is difficult as a result of recreation’s aggressive nature, an issue it shares with very completely different titles like League of Legends and Road Fighter. “The extra content material you add into the sport, the higher the extent of data players have to have to grasp what’s occurring,” says Deniele.
In truth, when Ubisoft launched Rainbow Six Siege X in June 2025 – the present, modernised model of the 2015 authentic – the corporate targeted on making it as simple as potential for brand new customers to hitch. Customers solely have entry to a handful of characters, with new operators being unlocked as they play, with the concept being that players aren’t overwhelmed by the selection and complexity of distinctive playstyles proper from the beginning.
Alongside Siege X, Ubisoft launched Free Entry, a restricted free-to-play model, which represented an enormous swing right into a famously difficult monetisation mannequin. New titles financial institution – more and more unsuccessfully – on grabbing a big sufficient viewers and convincing them to spend. Siege, in the meantime, had already been out for nearly a decade when Free Entry rolled out, which meant that whereas some threat was eliminated there have been new issues to take care of.
“It is a problem production-wise as a result of you’ll want to rethink your onboarding,” Deniele explains. “New persons are coming in, however there’s much less curiosity, as they will take a look at the sport and go away. While you purchase one thing, it is as a result of you have an interest and wish to strive it out and possibly give it extra of an opportunity.” The decrease barrier to entry that free-to-play provides additionally opens the sport as much as dangerous actors; individuals who wish to destroy the expertise for others and are in a position to simply entry the sport as a result of lack of a worth level.
“We made the choice to open a sure portion of the sport totally free, however not your complete recreation,” Deniele says. “If you wish to play ranked or get to a excessive stage, it’s important to pay. The primary drawback with free-to-play is that there are individuals who simply wish to troll. It is a stability. However what’s very attention-grabbing is it is opening the sport as much as new territories and areas and a brand new technology of players who’re extra pleasant in direction of free-to-play than they have been ten years in the past.”
“There’s an ecosystem round esports that must be sustainable for everybody”
Because the daybreak of esports, there’s been fixed dialog about whether or not it’s an business in itself or whether or not its simply promotion for the sport being performed. For Siege, Deniele describes the pro-games scene as “the very best advertising instrument”, saying it is a solution to “have a good time a recreation” with its prime players. However one attention-grabbing wrinkle is that Ubisoft can also be serving to help the esports ecosystem as a complete through the Rainbow Six Sharing Programme. Because the identify suggests, this shares income with golf equipment “to assist maintain them as a result of we’d like them in the ecosystem.” “There’s an ecosystem round esports that is essential and must be sustainable for everybody,” Deniele continues. “The place the writer has a powerful place to take to assist the ecosystem keep alive, however we should not neglect that we’re right here to have a good time the sport first and what the sport is.”
Throughout the final 12 months, there’s been a substantial shake-up at Ubisoft, largely centred across the creation of Vantage Studios, a brand new subsidiary backed by Chinese language tech and leisure behemoth, Tencent. This new ‘Inventive Home’ is dwelling to the corporate’s most prized IPs – Murderer’s Creed, Far Cry and Rainbow Six.
For Deniele, there’s lots to love about being one in all Ubisoft’s crown jewels, however one of many issues that’s thrilling him most is the shut relationship the Rainbow Six staff can now have with Tencent.
“Our partnership with Tencent additionally opens up new experience to develop this sort of recreation”
“We’re nonetheless utterly a part of Ubisoft and have the entire firm’s strengths,” he says. “However we’re in a position to be agile as a result of management is concentrated on Rainbow Six. It is helped us be extra targeted and construct a extra direct, built-in relationship with individuals in manufacturing and different areas of experience. Our partnership with Tencent additionally opens up new experience to develop this sort of recreation due to their information.
“For us [being part of Vantage] was necessary, as a result of Rainbow Six Siege proved it was one of many main FPS titles of the final ten years and will probably be for the subsequent ten years. We now have to place extra give attention to it and it should actually be one of many profitable elements of Vantage.”
After a very long time in improvement, Ubisoft is releasing the cell model of Rainbow Six Siege on February 27. This may convey the tactical shooter to a brand new viewers, together with China.
“It is an important second as a result of I’m very impressed with how the staff efficiently brought the sport to cell,” Deniele says. “Having the ability to go to a brand new sort of participant or a brand new area is thrilling. There’s a variety of new stuff we wish to do, together with China at one level. That is an important subject for us; we wish to see the place we are able to go along with the model and the franchise.”
Over ten years into Siege’s journey, Deniele and the staff clearly have huge ambitions for the shooter. However the plan is to stay to the sport’s core and not attempt to be the whole lot for everybody.
“[The plan is to] keep targeted on what we’re,” he says. “We’re a 5 vs 5 shut quarter fight. We’re very tactical, there is a give attention to destruction. That is who we’re, that is our place. We wish to give attention to this, however make this the very best factor potential and combine new expertise.”
The latest expertise of the second is, in fact, AI. Ubisoft’s latest Teammates showcase reveals that the corporate’s how shooters can construct on the expertise, however Deniele will not decide to its use in Rainbow Six. “There are issues that must be considered,” he says, diplomatically, suggesting that AI might someday function a coaching assist. “When it is serving to you, it’s extremely attention-grabbing.”