Published on November 18th, 2024 | by Adrian Gunning
Shield Up in Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege on December 3
Today, Ubisoft revealed the final season of Rainbow Six Siege’s Year 9, Operation Collision Point. This season kicks into high gear with significant improvements to player protection and anticheat, PC and console crossplay, a remaster of Blackbeard, Siege Cup Beta on all platforms, and more quality-of-life updates.
Player protection and anticheat receives several updates this season, including improved cheater detection to ensure fairness. With the arrival of PC & console crossplay, players with a Mousetrap Penalty will be forced into the PC-matchmaking pool for 90 days. If crossplay is turned off, these players will be unable to join matchmaking until the option is turned back on. Additionally, matches with a detected cheater will be automatically canceled with no impact on MMR. These changes reflect Rainbow Six Siege’s ongoing commitment to player protection.
Year 9 Season 4 brings a long-awaited update to Rainbow Six Siege: the arrival of PC and console crossplay! Players will now be able to Squad up and play with friends from other platforms seamlessly. Console players will have the option to join the PC player pool, and squads including a PC player will be automatically moved to the PC-matchmaking pool. However, PC players will not have the option to join the console matchmaking pool. Console players who play Ranked playlists with crossplay active will maintain a PC rank that is separate from their console rank.
Operation Collision Point unveils the new and improved Blackbeard and his H.U.L.L. Adaptable Shield gadget. Capable of expanding and contracting for use on foot and in rappel, Blackbeard’s upgraded gadget provides him with cover wherever he goes with its impressive ability to breach walls. With his renewed shield, Blackbeard can take on the enemy team, create new strategies, and open new lines of attack while remaining protected during his charge. Blackbeard is a two one speed, two three health Operator whose loadout features a MK17 CQB or SR-25 as a primary weapon and a D-50 as a secondary weapon.
Get ready to assemble your Squad with the release of Siege Cup beta on all platforms. Available to all players above Clearance Level 50, Siege Cup is our most competitive playlist, where 5-player squads compete in skill-based ladder tournaments for Competitive Coins that can be used to unlock exclusive skin collections every two weeks.
This season also features changes to Ballistic Shields as well as balancing updates for Attacking Operators Ying and Sens. The number of bullets needed to suppress Shield Operators have been reduced to add value to suppressive fire and improve Shield Operator counterplay. This allows suppression to occur sooner and last for a longer duration. Operators will not take damage from melee attacks while shielded, but guard break intensity from melee attacks will remain the same. Ying’s rush has been changed to encourage more precise gameplay in addition to Sens’ R.O.U. Projectors update that allows for more flexible and creative play.
Other updates this season include additional player protection changes that bolster the Rainbow Six Siege experience. The Reputation Center has been overhauled to provide a clearer overview of how different actions affect player standing and thresholds for receiving warnings or penalties. Account-related information such as rank, reputation, and match replays will also be concentrated in the new Career hub, with account stats coming soon. Finally, players can now flaunt their accomplishments in-game. Each time a player completes a new set of challenges, they are awarded a badge to honor their skill and dedication, which can be showcased on their Operator Card.
Rainbow Six Siege is now available to play on Ubisoft+, Ubisoft’s subscription service*, PlayStation®4, PlayStation®5, the Xbox One family of consoles, Xbox Series X | S, Windows PC, including on Steam, and Amazon Luna*.
For the latest news on Rainbow Six Siege and other Ubisoft games, please visit news.ubisoft.com. To purchase Rainbow Six Siege, please visit store.ubisoft.com. For more information about Year 9, visit rainbow6.com/Roadmap.