Don't Expect a Rainbow Six Siege Battle Royale Mode, Says Developers

Following the advent of PUBG, the battle royale genre received massive reinvigoration. Curiously, it’s yet to hit a standstill, evidenced by the meteoric success of Apex Legends. With big name shooters such as Call of Duty exploring the battle royale playing field, how long before other online shooters follow suit? It’s unclear. However, according to Ubisoft Montreal developers, Rainbow Six Siege will most definitely not be among them.

That’s right, even though Tetris now has its own battle royale-style release, Ubisoft’s hit tactical shooter won’t take part in the ongoing trend. Rainbow Six Siege’s Creative Director, Xavier Marquis, expressed as much to DualShockers during a recent interview. According to Marquis, the decision is mostly backed by a desire to keep Siege grounded in reality, something battle royale at its core certainly doesn’t favor.

Marquis shared the following with DualShockers,

No, I am not interested at all in a battle royale. The genre is doing a nice job but it’s not Siege. The equation of Siege comes from reality, like real CQB operations; it’s always a group trained to defend a specific place and an intervening group trained to intimidate and defeat the threat. This is the equation of Siege. I think the battle royale genre is too much of a stretch and I’m not sure it will be a plus for the game. So, we’ll try different things but no.

Game Director Leroy Athanassoff was also asked to comment on the matter. Agreeing with Marquis, Athanassoff confirmed that while Rainbow Six Siege will continue to “experiment with gameplay,” a battle royale mode is not in the team’s development plans. “Right now, there is no plan of adding a battle royale,” Athanassoff said. “But we want our events to be an important tool to experiment with gameplay.”

What fans can look forward to, however, is Siege’s Year 4: Season 1 content. The new round of content will include Operation Burnt Horizon and two new Operators, Gridlock and Mozzie.