This weekend, during the BLAST R6 Manchester Major, Ubisoft revealed the roadmap and plans for Y9S2 – Operation New Blood. During this short showcase, the team uncovered R6 Membership, a premium, paid-for offering that’ll reward players with exclusive benefits and bonuses in exchange for a monthly, recurring payment. I was on-site at the Manchester Major and can confirm that the jeering and booing that rippled through the building were indicative of the community’s response to the R6 Membership reveal.
Way to Go
For the most part, the twenty-something-minute reveal went down quite well. Ubisoft’s team expanded on new Operators – Striker and Sentry – and broke down balancing changes, quality-of-life improvements, and the global release of the peer-to-peer Marketplace in Rainbow Six Siege. They talked at length about improvements to the player protection systems, and anti-cheat mechanics, and revealed more about the Operators that are going to be ‘nerfed’ slightly going into Operation New Blood.
When the talk turned to the R6 Membership, the crowd started grumbling. Despite the showcase talking positively (of course) about the R6 Membership, the crowd united in their opposition to the introduction.
For $10 a month (recurring), Rainbow Six Siege players will be able to access a ‘premium’ battle pass, exclusive content drops, and other unique cosmetic items like animated skins that are only available to those with an R6 Membership. It was also confirmed that the R6 Membership will include a monthly allotment of R6 Credits, slotted neatly into the player’s in-game account to save or spend as they see fit.
It’s nothing that’ll make the R6 Membership a pay-to-win subscription, but there’s enough meat on the bones to make non-paying fans angry at Ubisoft for locking content behind a paywall. Ultimately, it’s the way of the world right now – this operating model is replicated in Fortnite, Fallout 76, Call of Duty, and Elder Scrolls Online, to name a few games.
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At this point, Ubisoft has implemented every single possible monetisation feature that’s on offer in the gaming industry, all packed within R6. It’s no wonder people are unhappy with them introducing this. It’s worse that the game isn’t even F2P and you still need to pay premium to access the game.
Everyone is upset with Ubisoft at this point I wonder if shareholders can force out the Guillemot’s and sell what’s left of the company to Tencent or Vivendi.