Ubisoft has announced a $9.99 a month membership for its shooter Rainbow Six Siege — and it’s not going down well with the core fanbase.
Rainbow Six Siege, which is not a free-to-play game, recently revealed the second season of Year 9, dubbed Operation New Blood, and with it Ubisoft also introduced the R6 Membership.
Here’s the official blurb from Ubisoft:
Active Membership holders will enjoy monthly drops of exclusive content that includes time-limited gear, animated Legendary skins, 10x Battle level skips, a Bravo Pack and access to the Premium Battle Pass for $9.99/month or a discounted $79.99/year.
It’s safe to say this membership has not gone down well with core Siege fans, many of whom are pointing out that the game costs money to buy and already has various microtransactions as well as a battle pass. As revealed by a TikTok clip posted by Royza Gaming, below, the announcement of the R6 Membership specifically was booed by fans during the BLAST R6 Major Manchester 2024 event for Rainbow Six Siege that took place over the weekend.
@royzagaming New siege membership #r6 #r6siege #r6update #royzagaming ♬ original sound - Royza
Another clip posted by redditor I-Am-Bodge also showed the booing at the R6 Membership announcement. According to I-Am-Bodge, when a prerecorded video announced the R6 Membership, some in the audience chanted “greedy bastards.”
Siege isn’t the first live service to offer a premium membership, but it compares poorly to those from other games in terms of value. The R6 Membership is even being compared unfavorably to the Fortnite Crew subscription, which is for a free-to-download game. "Although yeah you can simply ignore it (and I'm aware this system isn't tailored for people like me for example), that doesn't take away to how shitty is both the intention of making a subscription at the life-point of this game and overall how bad of a deal it is," redditor Jesus_PK commented.
There are now calls to boycott the R6 Membership, although such calls have been met with scepticism by many within the community. As Rainbow Six Siege nears its 10th year on sale, Ubisoft is under pressure to continue to grow money made from the game, just as other publishers are with their own live services. But it will also be mindful of community sentiment, and the strength of feeling from some core players about how the game is monetized now and in the future.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
