At the Gamescom Asia x Thai Game Show in Bangkok this week, IGN had the opportunity to sit down with Rainbow Six Siege on Switch 2, the utilize of generative AI in development, and more. Read our full chat below!
IGN: 10 years is a huge achievement for a live service game, especially since we’ve seen so many fresh players come and go in that time. To what do you attribute Siege’s longevity?
IGN: Has Siege evolved in ways you couldn’t have predicted at launch?
AK: Yes, absolutely. That is, if you look at 2015 when the game was first released, the Bomb game mode was not the number one mode. It was divided between the hostages, the secure area and the bomb. Back then, esports was something very grassroots and fresh, and now it has become an entire ecosystem where people derive their livelihood from it, which is something we couldn’t have expected when it first emerged. And so in this captivating way something was built that is really meaningful and humbling to be a part of.
IGN: You said earlier that Siege X sets the table for the next 10 years. Do you take it once a year? How massive is the road map for the future? Do the bank have any ideas for the next 10 years?
AK: In terms of ideas, we actually sat down and interviewed the entire team about their ideas for the game and ended up with over 40 pages of concepts that the team still wants to push. So there’s no end in sight in terms of what we want to do with the game, and that’s a short-term and long-term balance. We’re looking at the upcoming seasons, but also because of Siege X, we expect fresh technologies, fresh platforms, and things that will come out and impact the game. So how can we predict this in the long term.
IGN: Does reaching a milestone within 10 years boost the pressure on your team going forward, or do you feel like you’ve already mastered it and know what you’re doing?
AK: We are constantly learning and we will never stop learning. Creating a game like this takes a lot of work, and it really comes down to listening to the community. They will always be vocal about what they want to see and how things are changing, so yes, it’s not a matter of mastering where we are now. It’s comfort and knowing that we still have to listen to our community, we still have to adapt, and we still have to innovate. We may be a little more comfortable with being uncomfortable, and that will be the case for the next 10 years.
IGN: In terms of listening to the community, how challenging is it to balance your team’s vision for Siege X with the wants, needs and complaints of players?
AK: It is a challenge, but it is not. First, because this game has been around for so long, I think its DNA is very well understood by players, both fresh and senior. They know that it is a tactical game that has many unique elements, such as destruction and asymmetric attacker and defender characteristics. But this means that players actually want change, more often, and in this case we need to anticipate better and adapt even faster. And in a way it’s sustainable, right? At the end of the day, we are human, the development team is also very human, and we want to support something that can last the next 10 years, not just focus on the compact term.
IGN: How will Ubisoft’s creation of the Vantage Studios subsidiary impact you? How do you feel about this and will it have a noticeable impact on players?
AK: So in terms of the player perspective, Vantage Studios is not player-facing, so it won’t be anything that would be noticeable to gamers on a day-to-day basis or even in the long term. Even in terms of design, we don’t see any major changes, we are still focused on making Siege grow and invest in it, so we can confirm that today. And that means we’re still very excited about the future. So it doesn’t really change anything for us at the moment.
IGN: When Siege X launched in June, the number of players on Steam grew to around 150,000 concurrent players. Now it seems to be hovering around 40,000. Is this decline a cause for concern?
AK: Firstly, players coming to the game, especially the record number of fresh players checking out Siege X? It’s always great and exactly what we expected. And yes, there’s always an end after that, especially since the team was also sort of recovering from releasing something as massive as Siege X. There’s an ebb and flow, and a lot of it is expected.
That’s why we’re really ecstatic with the game. We’re ecstatic with where it’s going. The championship will be held in Munich in November, during which we will provide even more information about the future of the tournament. Again, I’m excited that players continue to join Siege and grow.
IGN: Is there a similar trend on consoles?
AK: Yes, it is. PC and consoles share the same gaming habits that we see all the time.
IGN: Do you feel at this stage that going free-to-play was the right decision, or is it too early to tell?
AK: For us, we can already see the benefits. Since launch, more fresh players have joined the game than ever before, and that’s exactly what we were hoping for. We’re also seeing a fresh generation of Siege players, which again is really great, even as we try to balance the needs of fresh players as well as veterans. This hits the nail on the head.
IGN: You now have a ton of characters in the game and a story built up over 10 years. Have you even considered the idea of a campaign mode? Rainbow Six Vegas had an amazing co-op campaign.
AK: It’s absolutely part of the legacy and yes, it’s something our players ask about. All I can say right now is that we are still focusing on the PvP aspect. We had some fun with PvP storytelling and had an event called Assault on Hereford, which players really loved and built on what our characters were doing and the tone of the game, and we’ll continue to explore that world. But yes, we don’t have anything to announce right now.
IGN: What is your stance on the utilize of generative AI in game development, do you plan to utilize it in Siege?
AK: If we’re just talking about artificial intelligence, it’s something we’ve always used, like machine learning and developing fresh tools not only for fraud prevention, but also for things like our AI bots, which we train on real player data. So these are amazing tools that make us faster and more productive. So this is not a fresh concept.
However, when it comes to generative AI, it’s still something really fresh, which is why we haven’t included it in our Siege plan.
IGN: What has been the fan reaction to Dual Front? I know many players felt that the District map was a bit too enormous at launch. Are you re-evaluating this?
AK: Yes, there was a lot of feedback about the fresh mode, especially when compared to veterans and fresh players. We’re seeing fresh players really join the game more than veterans, which is great. This is something we were counting on. But there are still ways to improve it.
That’s why we’ll be spending some time making major changes to the game mode that we’re excited to share in Year 11 – Season One. So early next year. We will continue to make changes and see if we can get more good feedback on this.
This is definitely something we want to stand out from the basic Siege. Core Siege is very competitive. The main attraction is the rankings where this type of competitive progression occurs. Dual Front is still where we want to give you all the sandbox ingredients you have in Siege in a more free form so you can have fun with it all, mixing up attackers and defenders, mixing different types of attack and defense strategies. This is where it really shines. That’s why we’re focused on making sure Dual Front meets clearly different needs than Core.
IGN: We’ve seen Star Wars Outlaws coming to Nintendo Switch 2, and there are rumors that Assassin’s Creed Shadows will also be on the way. Will Rainbow Six Siege 2 be next?
IGN: Finally, are you planning anything special for the 10th anniversary?
AK: We’ve talked about it a bit, and we’ll talk even more at the Munich Majors, but our plan is absolutely to celebrate this essential milestone with our players. We have a massive in-game event planned. We also have rewards planned for our players. So yes, we will definitely take advantage of this essential moment and celebrate it with everyone.
IGN: I can’t wait to see what you have in store. Thank you for your time.
AK: Thank you very much.
Tristan Ogilvie is a senior video editor in IGN’s Sydney office. He went to Bangkok as a guest of Gamescom Asia.
