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Rainbow Six Siege's Astonishing Comeback

Two years and 25 million players later.

86 Comments

In December of 2015, Ubisoft Montreal's Rainbow Six Siege released to little fanfare. It was a good game, but it relied too heavily on multiplayer modes for many players, its map supply was sparse, and servers weren't always reliable. All in all, it was a mediocre release.

Cut to two years later, and it's hard to believe we've been playing the same game. Ubisoft Montreal has supported its multiplayer shooter throughout the past 24 months, adding content, revamping servers, and listening to player feedback. The player count has increased exponentially, reaching 25 million with the recent release of Operation White Noise, the last content drop of Siege's second year.

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Now Playing: Rainbow Six Siege's Astonishing Comeback

It is, to say the least, one of modern AAA gamings' biggest comebacks. Games such as Destiny 2, Star Wars: Battlefront 2, Warframe, and Overwatch follow the ethos of "games-as-a-service," to varying effects. But Rainbow Six Siege is perhaps the best proof that this model can work.

In the video above, Mike Mahardy takes a deep dive into Siege, exploring the various ways it flew under the mainstream radar for so long, how it improved over the past two years, how it supported faithful players, and rewarded players who value complex gameplay.

Mike Mahardy on Google+

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omegazeda

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Yeah i wouldn't recommend joining this game now, if you haven't played it before for a good while, because you gonna get destroyed! Trust me i know, been playing shooters since 1991, played all rainbow games, tried this game a month back and got owned nearly every time XD

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BanHammer

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@omegazeda: thats because the controls are shite....i bought it day 1 played a few days and havent played since.

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gamer162594

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@banhammer: You’re a slave to aim assist / COD....

Controls in this game are on point, but no aim assist.

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box215

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@zero_juice: There's only aim assist in Terrorist Hunt. There is no aim assist in multiplayer. If youre talking about scripts on PC i cant comnent on that but on X1 anyone can start playing today and do well, assuming youre not jumping into it thinking its COD or Battlefield.
The only real disadvantage new players will have is not knowing all the ins and outs of each map. Because with the destruction, there are some really unique strategies one can take.

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z1g6a9

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Text chat at 00:14 contains offensive languag. Try to use clips without bad words or edit them out

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Stryder56

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@z1g6a9: **** off

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BanHammer

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Edited By BanHammer

@z1g6a9: what the ****? start your own site, write your own articles lol

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mattybs

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I haven't played the game since about a month after release. After this, I am now re-downloading the game, wish me luck!

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mundus

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Which is why videogame awards really dropped the bomb with giving best ongoing game to Overwatch...

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VanquishRE

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@mundus: Thats why I was very shocked that game awards gave it to Overwatch, a game that only been a year out, and normally Year 1 updates are typical. Rainbow 6 and Warframe grew exponentially, so I'd expect it to go to either of them.

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BanHammer

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@mundus: overwatch is that though, just because this has an ok player base doesnt dispute how overwatch is handled. if thats the case no game besides world of warcraft should win best ongoing game

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gamer162594

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@banhammer: Overwatch is predatory and encourages KIDS to buy loot crates.

“Seasonal” skins are the most evil of evil.

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mundus

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@banhammer: Except this game is handled better... This game started off good, has only gotten better over time. Overwatch started off good, its still great, but its not better, some updates makes the game worse. And post launch support for Siege is much better. 16 new characters since launch Overwatch had like 4. 9 new maps Overwatch had like 5. Ubisoft 100% listen to their playerbase, Blizzard does not.

There has always been a power struggle in Overwatch like which is this season strongest characters? Siege has had op characters as well (Old Blackbeard lol) but has since been patched and everybody is happier for it. Where some changes to Overwatch characters is just dumb if x isn't op then y is op etc. Instead of having a relatively balanced cast. Everybody that has played both games on and off since launch will agree that Siege has had much better post launch support which is why the award should have gone to Siege, they really dropped the ball on that one.

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King_Pazuzu

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Great game, but RIP to the traditional Rainbow Six games.

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LTJohnnyRico

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@King_Pazuzu: The traditional Rainbow Six Games died a long time ago .. way before Siege!

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gamingdevil800

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Edited By gamingdevil800

Wish they could of given For Honor dedicated servers a long time ago. It's literally one of my favourite fighting games but it became too frustrating to play due to online connection problems.

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box215

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@gamingdevil800: They've improved the servers some, but the dedicated servers will be great (hopefully)

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nurnberg

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Good job Ubisoft.

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RestatBonfire

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Edited By RestatBonfire

I love siege, the community is so and so. If you’re not playing with friends/team ranked matches can be frustrating. AFK teammates, team killing, quitting after a round.

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Shlompskii

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@restatbonfire: that is literally any game though, out of all the big shooters now I feel like Siege has the least amount of kids which helps it's community a lot.

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AfroMakka

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i cant see the video " Above"

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wayneextremity

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Eh. Siege was and is my life, but im taking a major break after they nerfed Kapkan so badly. The new Entry Devices do 20 HP damage. Its like they removed everything that made Kapkan special. And i havent played Siege in three weeks since. Im Rank 115 or so, so ive put in 600 hours easily.

Ubisoft, I love you. But please bring back original Kapkan. And an Xbox One X Patch. Please and Thank you <3

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kylexile

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@wayneextremity: His traps aren't as good now. I would rather have 3 of his old traps then the 5 new ones. But DUDE. The 2/2 change was enough for me to love him more than I did previously. That was a huge change that makes him such a better operator.

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LTJohnnyRico

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@wayneextremity: I have been playing since day one and I love Kapkan now .. he's quicker and his traps are more effective! He is also more of a pain in the ass when playing against him!

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mundus

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Edited By mundus

@wayneextremity: Level 104 player here about 250 hours played. Old Kapkan was trash, new Kapkan is much much better. You cant see the new entry devices lasers and he has 5 instead of 3. Also they do 50 damage not 20. Before patch i never walked in to Kapkan traps. Now i walk in to them sometimes. Sure before you died when you walked into them, but seriously you must be blind if you did. Now you have to check each door which makes him more effective on what he was designed to do. Prevent rushing.

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RestatBonfire

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@wayneextremity: Lvl 321 here , day one player, I don’t think he was nerfed. If anything he’s more annoying and stops attackers from rushing

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wayneextremity

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@restatbonfire: Thats map-subjective...I think that many situations dont favor him. High risk high reward worked best because he was already very balanced with his primary weapon.

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RestatBonfire

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@wayneextremity: every operator is map subjective breh. I bet you’re that type to choose the same operator no matter what room you’re defending

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Shlompskii

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@restatbonfire: something wrong with picking rook every room fucker?

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RestatBonfire

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@shlompskii: actually nah rook is great

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RayzerTag

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Edited By RayzerTag

@wayneextremity: You can argue they took away some of kapkan's identity, but they sure as hell didn't nerf him. His traps now do 60 damage, as opposed to 0 when the lasers were visible. They are an actual threat now. Also, he gets 5 of them, as well as a speed boost to place them all.

I can understand why some people found kapkan's old high-risk/high-reward iteration more satisfying. That said, it also doomed him to forever being a non-competitive op unless he was reworked, which he was.

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wayneextremity

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@RayzerTag: It was more satisfying because the traps, even though they were visible, played a deeper mindgame. Being able to see the trap and working to avoid or destroy it interfered with attackers focus; Siege is a game all about really small details like that. And now its so hard to get kills with those traps. Its a really rare occurrence.

I understood the Glaz Buff because his Scope was pretty bland without the thermal ability, but Kapkan was changed TOO LATE in the game's lifetime. Seriously speaking they really shook things up defender wise. The defenders are already generic compared to the variations of Attackers available in the game. Like apart from Caveira and Frost I dont see any other tactic trap defenders that make a major difference. Even Ella or Leison dont shake things up the way Kapkan used to

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mundus

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Edited By mundus

@wayneextremity: You do understand that making the trap invisible makes it a even bigger mindgame right? Before i could just go in quickly cause i knew the trap wasn't there now i have to think. And getting hit by a trap while it doesn't kill you leaves you at a huge disadvantage since 1 bullet will kill you as opposed to 3-4. He got 2 extra traps as well, so it delays you even more since its most likely 1 extra trap you have to shoot every round.

Also Ela and Leison is much better than any version of Kapkan even the really old invisible laser glitch with oneshot traps.

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Randoggy

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@wayneextremity: Level 115 at over 600 hours, that kinda explains everything here, GG.

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RestatBonfire

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@wayneextremity: add me on xbox then and I’ll show you just how useful lesion and ela are. Like, almost necessary

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