Last week, we reported that Ubisoft was going to hike the price on several editions of their now hugely popular Rainbow Six Siege game. While the $15 starter edition would remain the same, the $39.99 standard version was going to jump up to $59.99 and become the “advanced” version, which gave owners the ability to unlock operators much faster. Ubisoft was also going to jack up the price of the Gold and Complete editions from $69.99 to $89.99 and $89.99 to $129.99 respectively.
Rainbow Six fans were obviously outraged. When the game was struggling, they lowered the price and welcomed fans, but now that the game is a runaway success and has lured in over 25 million players, Ubisoft is trying to capitalize on new players by charging more. This makes gamers trying to get their friends into the game even more frustrated.
Because of the outcry, Ubisoft has responded and decided to not to go forward with the price change, entirely. First off, they are giving all players who play a match online before March 6 a free Ash Sidewinder Elite skin. The skin will appear in player’s inventory at the start of Year 3, Season 1.
Secondly, they are keeping the Standard edition at the same $39.99 price and not the Advanced edition’s $59.99. That being said, not all of the details are completely clear, as to whether or not the Gold and Complete editions will still see price hikes and how do owners of the standard edition earn operators.
“We recognize that this has been a point of frustration for new players, as well as existing players bringing their friends into the game, and have been working on how to make this process more fluid,” Ubisoft said. “The Rainbow Six Siege team has always incorporated player feedback into the game and the direction of the design. Your voice is incredibly important to us and we are monitoring your feedback closely on all aspects of this announcement.”
We’ve seen a growing trend of developers and publishers having to walk back ideas to capitalize on gamers (and their wallets) after players take to social media and band together to voice their frustrations. It’s great to see that as a group, gamers have a voice and can really make a difference.
When Ubisoft announced more concrete information on the changes to Rainbow Six and it’s pricing structure we’ll be sure to let you know.
Rainbow Six Siege is available for Playstation 4, Xbox One and PC.
