Ahead of Operation Crimson Heist kicking off Year 6 of Rainbow Six Siege, we sat down with Jean Baptiste Halle, Game Director, and Emilien Lomet, Game Designer, to discuss how it feels to reach six years of continuous support, as well as gain some hints at what is to come in Crimson Heist and beyond.
Please note that this interview was conducted before the full reveal of the new Operation.
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Congratulations on reaching Year 6! That's quite the milestone. Does releasing so many updates put added pressure on to keep one-upping yourselves?
JBH: "Thank you, that's quite the milestone indeed - especially since we just passed 70 million players! There is indeed some pressure to keep doing better, but that's good pressure. Plus we have lots of talented people joining the team with fresh ideas and energy - that helps to raise the bar!"
EL: "Definitely. But that's a good thing! We learned a lot during the past few years, and this added pressure can be channelled into leveraging that knowledge into bettering the game. Frequent updates also allow us to keep the experience fresh for everyone, and expand on this wonderful game."
What's one thing you've learned heading into Year 6 that you wish you knew when launching in 2015?
JBH: "It's tough to isolate one as we've learned a lot in 5 years. If I have to choose one - I simply wish we knew for sure that we would have the chance to make Siege better over the course of many years. Lots of us would have slept much better"
EL: "It's difficult to isolate a single element, the mindset of the team at the time was completely different! We've learned a lot for sure, but I feel that we learned alongside our players and that we've been moving forward together ever since. These things take time, and I don't believe it could have been any different even if we have had all the answers already back then."
While new Operators are usually the "headline" addition to any season, the team has been implementing new QoL and general gameplay updates, too. Are you at the point where you're pretty satisfied with how Siege plays at this point, or are there more of these changes to come?
JBH "There are many, many more of these changes to come. Some of them will be quality of life changes, but others will be complete game system overhauls that will change the way Siege is played heavily. Siege will keep on evolving - its core gameplay is very solid, but there's still room for massive improvements."
EL: "We have a lot more Quality of Life changes coming for year 6, and I don't believe we will stop there. However, in year 6, we are also at a point where we can now provide a larger overhaul of certain gameplay systems, something we've always wanted to do. Combined with the QoL changes, our operators, event, etc. Siege will remain in constant flux, improving over time."
We've seen plenty of new Operators over the years, but maps are (understandably) a little rarer – at least in recent seasons. Are we likely to see new maps soon, or is the team focused primarily on reworks to keep the current map rotation viable?
JBH: "We are still focused primarily on reworking existing maps. It is important to keep our map balanced and enjoyable."
You can also check out everything we know about the game's next Operation here.