Rainbow Six Siege delayed
Ubisoft needs more time to improve co-op, weapon and gadget balancing, and more.
Ubisoft has announced a delay for its upcoming shooter, Rainbow Six Siege. The game was previously expected to launch in October, but has now shifted to December 1, 2015 for all regions.
In a blog post, Ubisoft said it decided to push the game a few months as a result of fan feedback.
"Whether it's been through playtests in our studios, the closed alpha, or recent hands-on demos at events like E3 or Gamescom, player feedback has been essential to the development of Rainbow Six Siege," the studio said. "Getting the game in people's hands and listening to what they have to say helps us understand how we can improve their experience, and we'd like to thank everyone who's taken part in the process so far."
With those considerations in mind, Ubisoft chose to move the game out a few months. The extra couple months provide more time to improve the game's co-op, fine-tune weapon and gadgets and make additional refinements to the game's menu and interface.
"This wasn't an easy decision, but based on the feedback we've received, and based on our own internal tests, we felt there are adjustments and improvements we can make, including improving the co-op experience across all game modes, weapon and gadget balancing, as well as menu and interface navigation," Ubisoft said. "We're taking a little more time to make these changes, and we think it's the right call."
The upcoming closed beta for Rainbow Six Siege, offered to people who preorder, will commence as scheduled on September 24. Overall, Ubisoft says feedback from this beta and the extra development time will "make for a higher-quality experience at launch."
"We understand that many of you are excited to get your hands on the final game, but as gamers ourselves we know that quality comes first and we are committed to delivering the best game possible."
Ubisoft has high hopes for Rainbow Six Siege, as the publisher said back in May that the game has the potential to become the company's best-selling FPS ever, surpassing Far Cry 4. At the time, Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot said the game's replayability "will be key to the game's success." He did not address the fact that Siege is available only on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC, whereas Far Cry 4 was also available on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.