After it’s reveal at Ubisoft Forward 2021, Rainbow Six Extraction has been getting steady stream of news about it’s development and how the game will play. Some have wondered, though, if this game will end up directly competing with Rainbow Six Siege, the game it’s directly adapted from, considering that both are going to be vying for player’s attention in the already highly-populated “games as a service” market. Gamespot sat down with Extraction’s creative director, Patrik Méthé, to get to the bottom of this and see if these two games really will have to go head-to-head in the cut-throat video game industry. Méthé explained that no, these games will not steal players from one another, and instead are on track to grow the player-base for both instead of decreasing either.
The main reason, as Méthé explains, is that Siege and Extraction are each focused on different styles of gameplay: PvP for Siege and PvE for Extraction. In his own words,
They’re both very different games offering their own challenges and pacing so there’s no worry in that regard, quite the opposite in fact, the way [Extraction] is built in its PvE nature–we’re confident that it will appeal to a wide variety of players from both sides.
This seemingly insignificant difference actually means a lot in terms of gameplay. A game like COD is considered mainly PvP, whereas Destiny 2 is a PvE game. Both of these are first person shooters, but players of either will attest that they’re wildly different experiences.
This difference won’t come at the cost of difficulty, though. Méthé stated that “in addition, should Siege players decide to push [Extraction] to its maximum threat level, it will offer a high-octane challenge, on par–and even above–what they’re used to in Siege.” Whether the enemy AI of Extraction will be able to compete or even surpass enemy players in Siege is yet to be seen, but players should be excited to see just how far Extraction will push their skills.
Along with this, Méthé is excited to see Extraction not only interest Siege players, but gather a player-base entirely its’ own. It isn’t hard to see why, either: Siege is a strategy-heavy tactical game that might scare off newcomers who are just looking to have a good time, while Extraction offers a co-op oriented experience that promises the tactical thrill of Rainbow Six and the comfort of having other players on your team to rely on and communicate with to make success that much easier. You can watch the full reveal trailer for Rainbow Six Extraction below.
Rainbow Six Extraction will release on September 16, 2021 on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Series X|S.