In its ninth year, Rainbow Six Siege didn’t introduce new maps, but it did unveil character remasters

During the Six Invitational, Rainbow Six Siege developers unveiled the update plan for the coming months. Apparently, significant changes are not expected, and the main focus of the ninth year of development is on improving various gaming systems and gradually expanding new functional features.

Key additions for the seasons of the ninth year:

First season:

• Introduction of a new operator – Deimos.
• Overhaul of the shield mechanics.
• Changes to attachments and scopes.
• Implementation of a new inventory management menu – the “locker.”

The second season:

• The rework of the recruit includes the introduction of two versions of this operator. Now, they will become a full-fledged member of the roster, with the ability to participate in any playlist and customize their appearance.
• A comprehensive reputation system will be launched, imposing penalties for players with low reputation, such as restrictions on access to specific playlists.
• Additionally, a full-fledged marketplace will be introduced where players can trade items for R6 credits.
• Filters for maps will also be added to standard playlists.

The third season:

• The new operator from Greece has been introduced with new weaponry.
• The Siege Cup competitive system has been launched, featuring regular mini-tournaments held every two weeks and open to all interested participants.
• A long-term progression system has been implemented, including a career screen and upgradable badges.
• Now, during matchmaking, players can utilize a shooting range.
• A playlist against artificial intelligence has been added, where bots act as the attacking team.

The fourth season

• Rework of one of the operators — a character from the USA, who has long been in need of changes (it seems to be referring to Blackbeard).
• Expansion of cross-play: players from consoles can now join the pool of PC players (if they choose to). The reverse direction, from PC to consoles, is not available.
• New match cancellation system — if a cheater is detected in the middle of a match, the game will be immediately terminated, and participants will not lose their rating.

In each season, updates to the battle pass and events are also anticipated. If a new operator is not introduced in a season, battle pass owners receive a voucher that can be used to unlock any operator or exchanged for 600 R6 credits (if all operators are already unlocked).

Additionally, throughout the year, minor features will be introduced, including balance adjustments, extra maps for matches against AI, improved bans via Steam, automatic moderation of text chat, and so forth. To complicate the lives of cheaters, restrictions in competitive playlists for new and returning players are planned, along with penalties for those using a keyboard and mouse on consoles (for example, such players may be placed in the PC matchmaking pool) and other measures.