Rainbow Six Mobile has been a long time coming. First announced in 2022, it has been in development for seven years and 11 studios, led by Ubisoft Montreal, have contributed to the project. At one point, there were six developers working on the shooter at the same time.
After a closed beta in September 2022, Rainbow Six Mobile officially soft launched in August 2023 and has evolved significantly since then, says director Olivier Albarracin.
“We saw that players actually wanted to engage more competitively,” he tells us. “Players wanted the game to become more tactical. The other part was competitive integrity, making sure the games are stable and the ranked mode is ready to go.”
Monetisation evolved during Rainbow Six Mobile’s soft launch, too. Initially, Ubisoft opted for a ticketing system but it later switched to a reputation mechanic that’s closer to the one used in Rainbow Six Siege.
“We saw that the gameplay and meta were already fairly complex, so we decided to go back to our virtual currency, Renown,” Albarracin explains. “Now players earn Renown from events and can purchase an operator. Currently, we have the operator of the season in the battle pass. Once the season ends, they leave the battle pass, and players can purchase the operator with Renown, similar to Siege. Another system we added is Silver and Gold Bullets, which let players open packs that give them free cosmetics.”
Rainbow Six Mobile launched worldwide last week during a turbulent time for Ubisoft. The company has recently restructured – the shooter now sits under the newly-created Tencent-backed Vantage Studios subsidiary – and there have been brutal staff cuts as well as the cancellation of long-in-development projects.
Launching Rainbow Six Mobile amid all that turmoil suggests Ubisoft still believes the game can go the distance, says Albarracin.
“We have always had the support of Ubisoft,” he continues. “They’ve always believed in the product and the brand. Mobile is the biggest games platform in the world. If Rainbow Six wants to exist as a global brand, it needs to be where all the players are. It’s not about replacing PC or console, it’s really about bringing the Siege experience to everyone’s hands.”
On top of Ubisoft’s organisational troubles, the mobile shooter market is incredibly competitive. Ubisoft’s financial backer Tencent already has a slew of games in the same space, and huge western shooter brands like Call of Duty: Warzone and Apex Legends Mobile have tried – and failed – to break into this market.
But Albarracin is confident that Rainbow Six Mobile can compete, thanks to the time Ubisoft took to “get the game right”.
“We saw a lot of other games come and go [during soft launch]…we are very confident now in our systems, and the market seems very good,” he tells us. “A lot of the hardware is stronger and network stability everywhere is great. It’s just a good time to launch the game.”
As for how Rainbow Six Mobile plans to stand out, Albarracin believes the game’s tactical depth is a differentiating factor. It has worked for Rainbow Six Siege, which launched into a similarly competitive market in 2015 and has attracted over 100m players to date.
“Most mobile shooters prioritise speed and reflexes, running and gunning,” says Albarracin. “What Rainbow Six Mobile prioritises is planning, synergy between different gadgets and environmental destruction. We’re not competing on spectacle, but on the strategic depth and competitive integrity.”
Now the game is out worldwide, Ubisoft’s Montreal and Winnipeg teams will handle the game’s live ops, and Albarracin says there’s already “months and months” of content planned. The game’s seasons are one month long, and come with a new operator, battle pass tasks to complete and various other new modes. Every other season will have a ‘landmark’ event, a special game mode on a new map.
For the first year, Albarracin is focused on getting the game’s foundations right, but the team has further ambitions in the competitive space. “Our goal is to still focus on our player security, trust with players, competitive integrity and making sure we build upon this foundation of becoming very competitive,” he adds.
“Our end goal would be to enter esports. We’re not trying to force this. We’re really just trying to make sure we have the tools necessary to be able to support that.”
