Rainbow Six Siege Players Are Angry That Outbreak Packs Returning

Popular online shooter Rainbow Six: Siege announced this week that Outbreak Packs are back for a limited time, and the player base was not thrilled about this, seeing it as a way for Ubisoft to make money before new content is released later this year. Outbreak Packs were originally released in 2018 in the Operation Chimera season as a replacement for Alpha Packs, which were randomized cosmetic loot drops. The major difference is that Outbreak Packs required premium in-game currency to obtain and that there was no way to receive them outside of paying for them.

Rainbow Six: Siege was released in June 2015 and is an online PvE and PvP first-person tactical shooter.  Since its release, Ubisoft has released themed events, new maps, weapons and characters (Operators). The two most recent seasons are North Star and Crimson Heist. Both seasons introduced new Operators to play as, reworked maps, battle passes and seasonal skins. Considering that the game is six years old, Ubisoft is working hard to keep the title alive and of interest to new players. Although top-tier gameplay is hard and can be very competitive, the developer is working to remain welcoming for new players who haven’t yet mastered all the intricacies of the game.

The return of the Outbreak Packs was announced yesterday on Rainbow Six: Siege‘s Twitter account, and they will be available to purchase for one week only, meaning players have until July 13 (via Dexerto). It didn’t take long for players to start commenting and reacting to the return of these packs. Niclas “Pengu” Mouritzen, a former professional Rainbow Six: Seige player, almost immediately replied to the initial tweet with outrage. He feels that instead of just making the packs available for purchase, Ubisoft should include them as a bundle when the new game mode, Extraction, releases, specifically since it is a full-priced game. Pengu’s other suggestion is to rerelease outbreak all together so that the whole event can be experienced again.

A big appeal of the packs when they were initially released was that players wouldn’t receive two of the same item, which means they were guaranteed new cosmetics each time they opened a pack. While this is an ideal model for any kind of pack-based collection system, it can make collecting them all even more addicting, and is a model for ensuring people spend money to get what they want. BikiniBodi, Creative Director at Flat Tail Studios and member of the Fnatic eSports team, called out Rainbow Six: Siege over this idea, calling the idea of having gamers spend up to $100 on cosmetics in a week a “disgusting business practice” and exploitive.

While cosmetics can be a very enjoyable addition to any game, forcing players to buy these items with real money never goes over well. Only Ubisoft can say for certain what its intentions were in rereleasing these skins, but the community clearly has a pretty strong idea of how it looks to them. With a new game mode releasing this fall, and cross-play on the horizon within the next year, it’s not a great time for Rainbow Six Siege to encounter bad publicity like this.

Rainbow Six: Siege is available on Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4, Ubisoft+ on Windows and Stadia. Players who purchase an Xbox One or PS4 version of the game receive a free next-gen upgrade.

Source: RainbowSixSiege/Twitter, Pengu/Twitter, BikiniBodhi/Twitter, Dexerto

About The Author