Rainbow Six Siege’s next update finally adds PC and console cross-play to the competitive multiplayer shooter.
The Year 9 Season 4 update, called Operation Collision Point, launches on December 3 and also introduces changes to the anti-cheat system, remasters the Operator, adds the Siege Cup, and improves gameplay balance.
Despite approaching its ninth birthday, Siege remains one of the most popular competitive multiplayer games on PC and consoles, and is also among the top 100 most popular games on Steam. For troubled publisher Ubisoft, it’s a sure-fire way to make money at a time when recent titles like Star Wars: Outlaws and Call of Duty competitor XDefiant have struggled.
The addition of cross-play means that players will be able to play seamlessly with friends from other platforms, and console players will be able to join the PC player pool. Squads containing a PC player will automatically be moved to the PC matchmaking pool. However, PC players will not be able to join the matchmaking pool on consoles. Console players who play on leaderboards with energetic cross-platform play will maintain a different PC rank than their console rank, Ubisoft explained.
Anti-cheat updates include improved cheater detection to ensure integrity, Ubisoft said. With the arrival of cross-play on PC and consoles, players with a mousetrap penalty will be forced into the PC matchmaking pool for 90 days. If crossplay is disabled, these players will not be able to join matchmaking until the option is re-enabled. Additionally, matches with a detected cheater will be automatically canceled without affecting MMR. “These changes reflect Rainbow Six Siege’s ongoing commitment to protecting players,” Ubisoft added.
As a result, Ubisoft has rebuilt the Reputation Center to provide a clearer overview of how various actions impact a player’s standing and thresholds for receiving warnings or penalties. Account-related information such as rank, reputation and match replays will be concentrated in the recent Career Hub, and account statistics will be made available soon, Ubisoft explained.
Meanwhile, Blackbeard now has an improved Adaptive Shield gadget, and the Siege Cup beta is available to all players above access level 50. The Siege Cup is the most competitive playlist in Siege, where teams of five compete in skill-based ladder tournaments for Competitive Coins that can be used to unlock exclusive skin collections every two weeks.
Finally, Season 4 introduces changes to Ballistic Shields and balancing updates for attacking Ying and Sens Operators. The number of bullets needed to suppress Shield Operators has been reduced to enhance suppressive fire and improve Shield Operator counterplay. This allows suppression to occur earlier and last longer, Ubisoft explained. Operators will no longer take damage from melee attacks while protected, but the guard break intensity from melee attacks will remain the same. Ying’s rush has been changed “to encourage more precise gameplay,” in addition to an update to the ROU Sens projectors “that allows for more flexible and creative play.”
Wesley is the UK news editor at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. Wesley can be reached at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
