Why Rainbow Six Extraction Only Uses Existing Siege Operators

Rainbow Six Extraction is a spin-off of Rainbow Six Siege, which sees a new team combating a parasitic alien threat called the Archaeans. Developer Ubisoft Montreal is pulling over 18 operators from Siege to put together Extraction's starting lineup--there are no new faces specifically made for the new game.

When asked as to why Ubisoft Montreal isn't making new operators for Extraction or making a handful of new faces to freshen up a roster primarily composed of known characters, Rainbow Six Extraction creative director Patrik Méthé told me that Siege's lineup was simply too valuable a resource to realistically ignore.

"We had a lot of discussions at the beginning of the project, but the truth is we have such a rich roster of operators available," Méthé said. "And the idea of bringing the same operators that you played in PvP in Siege into a very drastically different experience was too valuable for us to say, 'Oh, let's create other operators,' because we had this huge pool. So we picked the operators that felt the most at the right place for a PvE experience."

Méthé added that "most of the team working on Extraction never worked on Siege," primarily featuring folks who have previously worked on Far Cry, For Honor, and Assassin's Creed. The team has used their knowledge from these other series in redesigning several of the operators that are in Extraction at launch.

Interestingly, Ubisoft Montreal has noticed that several of Siege's least-useful operators become far more beneficial in a PvE setting. I noticed this for myself during my four-hour hands-on with the game, with Pulse and IQ's abilities to see life signs and electronics through walls, respectively, being incredibly useful in locating objectives in Extraction's larger environments. Gridlock is pretty invaluable for area denial and crowd control in Extraction as well. But no character is perhaps more improved in their transition from PvP to PvE than Tachanka.

"Sadly, Tachanka didn't necessarily receive the love he deserved in Siege before the changes [to his unique gadget]," Méthé said. "But on our side, it's quite the opposite. If you go into an incursion where you know you'll have a lot of defense scenarios to accomplish, adding Tachanka to your side is a dream come true." When the Siege team began brainstorming how to change Tachanka's kit to make him more viable in PvP, the Extraction team discussed whether they should as well, ultimately deciding against it--when you play Extraction, Tachanka's kit will more closely resemble his loadout when Siege first launched, not what he has now.

If you're at all worried about your favorite Siege operators changing drastically for Extraction, don't. I didn't get a chance to try out all 18 operators during my play session, but of those I did, they all fit the same role in Extraction that they did in Siege.

"We had to make some adjustments, but we wanted to make sure that the Siege player that is interested in a PvE experience will not play our game and then not understand or find the right feel for the operators they've played for hundreds of hours," Méthé said. "We had to make sure to stay true to their essence."

Rainbow Six Extraction is scheduled to launch for Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4, PC, Stadia, and Luna on January 20. The game will be available on Xbox Game Pass on day one. If you buy the game, you'll receive free buddy passes that you can gift to your friends, each includes a free 14-day trial to Extraction.