Rainbow Six Siege’s Seventh Year Promises New Maps, Cross Play, and Less Toxicity

Ubisoft has revealed the content roadmap for Rainbow Six Siege’s seventh year. As usual it includes four new operators, but 2022 will see the addition of three new maps, the much-requested cross-play and cross-progression, and a variety of new improvements to Siege’s player behaviour systems.

Starting with season one’s Operation Demon Veil, which was revealed yesterday, Rainbow Six Siege will receive a further four playable operators. Azami, a Japanese defender, has already been fully detailed, but the remaining three have only been teased. Season two will add a new Belgian operator, season three will introduce an operator from Singapore, and the final operator landing in season four will hail from Colombia.

Mid-way through season one we’ll see a new competitive map in the form of the Ireland-set Emerald Plains. Season three will also add a new competitive map. A third new map will also be available, arriving in season two, however this Greece-set map will be exclusively for the new Team Deathmatch game mode, and not available for traditional competitive Siege matches.

Alongside this, a new shooting range will be added during season two, which will provide a place to test guns and practice weapons drills. A series of ‘operator tips’ will also be added, in an effort to better explain to new players how Siege’s many unique characters work. In season three, Ranked 2.0 – an overhauled version of Siege’s ranked competitive mode – will be introduced.

Ubisoft is also working on crossplay and cross-progression for console and PC, but notes that it is taking longer than expected. As such, it is currently planned to be launched during season four, right towards the end of the year.

In addition to this new content, Ubisoft plans to make a host of improvements to Siege’s player systems. In season one, there will be changes made to the way griefing and player disconnects are detected and acted upon, in an effort to make a fairer experience. Season two will further the war on toxic players by restricting those who misuse friendly fire, while season three will add reporting systems to the Match Replay feature, allowing you to report violations if you spot them in a replay. A new Reputation Scores system will launch in season four, which will reward good behaviour while blocking repeat offenders. Joining all this will, naturally, be seasonal balance updates. There will also be updates dedicated to the console version to allow personalisation of aim control, controller mapping, and field of view settings.

As usual, balancing, gameplay upgrades, and map content will be provided for free, but operators will be provided through paid-for battle passes. These can be purchased seasonally, but there will also be the Year 7 Pass, available until March 21, which unlocks every upcoming operator 14 days early. Two variations are available this year, the regular one for $40 (essentially the four standard season passes in one bundle) or the $60 Premium Year Pass that also comes with exclusive weapon skins, VIP credits, and 20 extra tiers on the battle pass.

For more, check out the full details on what is arriving in Rainbow Six Siege year 7, season one. And to see what else is going on in the Tom Clancy-verse, be sure to read our review of the recently released Rainbow Six Extraction.

Matt Purslow is IGN’s UK News and Entertainment Writer.