Arguably the two most popular tactical shooters,Counter Strike: Global OffensiveandRainbow Six Siegeboth remain relevant in the eSports world despite releasing nine and six years ago respectively. Fans are drawn to the tense gameplay that often showcases pinpoint accuracy shooting and strategic team-based positioning. However,Rainbow Six Siegehas lately suffered from what competitive scene aficionados term the “20-second meta.” Game director Jean Baptiste Hallé has decided to address the problems with this meta and how developer Ubisoft Montreal plans to fix it.
For those unfamiliar withRainbow Six Siegegameplay, two teams of operators with different weapons and gadgets fight against one another with one side defending a position on a map and the other side attacking. SomeRainbow Six Siegeoperatorsare better for attacking and some are better for defending. The 20-second meta refers to the problem in the current competitive scene where attackers typically struggle all game to break through defender traps and utility and only have around 20 seconds to actually fight the defenders.
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In an interview with PC Games, Hallé recognized thatRainbow Six Siegefans are fed up with the 20-second meta and described some potential changes to the game. Hallé said “I think we will need to keep breaking things to make things move forward,” and “[w]e need to take risks, and to maybe have an attacker-sided meta for a while.” To implement these changes,Rainbow Six Siegeoperator Blackbeard might be getting an overhaul, and Hallé wants more players checking out the test server for the game.
As far as changing the meta to favor attackers, Hallé stated “[o]ur objective is not to go too far, but it may end up being that.” While no meta state will make everyRainbow Six Siegeplayer and fan happy, it does seem like the team behind the game are prepared to really shake things up in Year 6.The content roadmap for Year 6has already been revealed, with new operator Flores coming to the game along with a new sidearm, a new battle pass, and more.
Flores will be a part of theCrimson Heist updatethat launches on March 16. This update will also introduce the new sidearm, the Gonne-6, as well as changes to the Border map. To make Border more enjoyable for veterans and newcomers alike, Ubisoft Montreal aims to reduce extra clutter in the map that will hopefully help with map awareness and memorization.
AsRainbow Six Siegeadapts, for better or worse, some players will undoubtedly look to the future of the franchise.Rainbow Six Siegeis six years old after all, and a new game could bring a fresh start for the series. The Outbreak event inRainbow Six Siege, which introduced more fast-paced gameplay, has inspired a rumored sequel,Rainbow Six: Quarantine.
Rainbow Six Siegeis available on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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