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Rainbow Six Patriots was cancelled in favor of Rainbow Six Siege

Patriots was originally slated to follow 2008's Rainbow Six Vegas 2, but a desire to go all-in on competitive multiplayer led to Siege.

David Craddock

August 1, 2016 1:45 PM

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Rainbow Six brand director Alex Remy recently talked with GameSpot about the circumstances leading to the cancellation of Rainbow Six Patriots and the rise of Rainbow Six Siege.

"In terms of design, direction, and vision, Patriots was much more a story-driven, narrative-driven game. With Rainbow Six Siege we sort of took a very, very different position and vision at the time... We really flipped in terms of vision and direction. Even on the team side of things, in early 2013, we were 25 people. And pretty much the whole 25 people were new to Rainbow; they were not people from Patriots except a couple of us."

Whispers began to mount in 2013 that Patriots wasn't shaping up the way Ubisoft had hoped. Remy provided a more concrete explanation. "We really wanted to focus on multiplayer because we felt that's where the franchise should go. And building that game around multiplayer, we thought this is how we were going to get some sort of sustainability in the long term. So I think that's one of the things we were adamant in doing--building the game for the long term."

Ubisoft switched gears and designed Rainbow Six Siege around competitive multiplayer—specifically, a title able to make waves in the growing eSports scene. Catering to players who had spent years ensconced in competitive shooters like Counter-Strike entailed doubling down on tight design and tech.

Rainbow Six Siege continues to evolve. Tomorrow, August 2, it gets its next expansion pack, Skull Rain, consisting of one new map and two new operators.

David Craddock

Long Reads Editor

David L. Craddock writes fiction, nonfiction, and grocery lists. He is the author of the Stay Awhile and Listen series, and the Gairden Chronicles series of fantasy novels for young adults. Outside of writing, he enjoys playing Mario, Zelda, and Dark Souls games, and will be happy to discuss at length the myriad reasons why Dark Souls 2 is the best in the series. Follow him online at davidlcraddock.com and @davidlcraddock.