Cross-play is quickly becoming the new staple for online games, especially ones with a heavy emphasis on PVP looking to offer matchmaking to even larger pools of players at once. So, it makes sense that Ubisoft's upcoming multiplayer titles are looking to include the feature, including more current and popular games like Rainbow Six Siege.
This new announcement for Rainbow Six Siege experimenting with cross-play comes as a teaser for the upcoming Ubisoft Forward premiering on June 12th. However, it would seem that the feature is in development and beginning testing in limited capacity across specific versions of the game before opening further to the public once the online infrastructure is in place.
According to a tweet by the official Rainbow Six Siege Twitter account, the cross-play features are currently being tested between PC and cloud gaming platforms. There's no word on when the feature will be fully released to the public, or when testing between PC and console will begin in full, but more information will be coming at a future event. For now, players will have to wait for Ubisoft Forward, the developer's planned presentation for E3 2021, before there is any more news on the progress of cross-play for this particular game.
The response from Rainbow Six Siege fans since the announcement have been all across the board, with some praising the move, and others making jokes and dreading the mix of the communities from multiple platforms. However, most of the community behind the game is excited to see cross-play coming at least in a limited capacity for now, as it means players will have a larger pool to matchmake with. That excitement will still have to wait for at least a while longer, considering that testing appears to still be in very early stages and hasn't even begun on consoles yet.
Considering that Rainbow Six Siege continues to add operators and is still growing even this far after launch, Ubisoft making the efforts to make cross-play works looks like the right move for the game moving forward. This could also act as a necessary test for getting future titles like Skull and Bones and other upcoming multiplayer games ready to incorporate cross-play on or shortly after launch. For the moment, fans will just have to wait until Ubisoft Forward to see exactly what the developer has planned for Rainbow Six Siege and the rest of its catalogue as it moves into future developments.
Rainbow Six Siege is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
