Rainbow Six Siege [official site] had a rough first year. It launched in December 2015 to little fanfare, with the European team cutting their marketing push after a tragic terrorist attack in Paris. The game still picked up plenty of critical acclaim, but didn’t make an impact on the Steam charts.Those that did pick the game up in its first few weeks found their experience marred by a maelstrom of problems, ranging from game-breaking bugs, to the annoying server issues and quirky glitches that seem to come packaged with every multiplayer-only game at launch. The future looked dire.
Just over a year later and Rainbow Six Siege has more than 10 million players. I visited Montreal for the Rainbow Six Invitational, Ubisoft Montreal’s first attempt at an annual esports event. Ubisoft Montreal staff roam the event, wearing Siege t-shirts, and the mood here is celebratory. That’s to be expected though; for the makers of Rainbow Six Siege, the success of the game feels like redemption after years of hard work.
