Rainbow Six Siege told to stand down, release delayed to December 1

By Kris Wouk August 19, 2015

Rainbow Six: Siege — Image used with permission by copyright holder

At this year’s E3, Ubisoft of America president Laurent Detoc announced that Rainbow Six Siege would be released on October 13. For Rainbow Six fans who have been waiting for the next entry in the series for years, it was a relief to hear that there were only a few more months to go.

Unfortunately, those fans are going to have to wait a little longer. Today Ubisoft announced that Rainbow Six Siege won’t come out in October after all. Instead the game is now slated to be released on December 1.

“This wasn’t an easy decision, but based on the feedback we’ve received, and based on our own internal tests, we felt there are adjustments and improvements we can make, including improving the co-op experience across all game modes, weapon and gadget balancing, as well as menu and interface navigation,” Ubisoft wrote yesterday. “We’re taking a little more time to make these changes, and we think it’s the right call.”

Luckily it’s not all bad news. While the game’s final release is being delayed, the planned closed beta for the game will go on as planned. The beta starts on September 24, and the delayed release gives Ubisoft more time to fix bugs and balance issues found by beta testers.

“That extra testing and added polish will make for a higher-quality experience at launch,” Ubisoft writes. “We understand that many of you are excited to get your hands on the final game, but as gamers ourselves we know that quality comes first and we are committed to delivering the best game possible.”

Hopefully the extra development time will result in a better game, or at the very least avoid an Assassin’s Creed Unity-style launch disaster. Rainbow Six Siege is coming to the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC. A special collector’s edition is available for $150, exclusively through Ubisoft’s Uplay shop.

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Kris Wouk is a tech writer, gadget reviewer, blogger, and whatever it's called when someone makes videos for the web. In his…

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