Rainbow Six Siege to offer free Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 upgrade

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege sits among the few games already committed to next-generation consoles, targeting Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 at launch. The tactical shooter continues to grow in Year 5, with Ubisoft preparing for over another decade of post-launch content. We’ve now received additional context around that cross-generation transition, including a free upgrade on the upcoming boxes.

Earlier this year, we broke Ubisoft’s next-generation plans for Rainbow Six Siege, speaking with Leroy Athanassof, game director at Ubisoft Montreal. The team confirmed ongoing work with Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 enhancements, underway throughout Year 5, while also touching on cross-play and cross-progression plans. But the exact implementation remained uncertain, and whether players would need to rebuy Rainbow Six Siege, with both Sony and Microsoft yet to talk upgrade routes for existing games.

Ubisoft has now confirmed Rainbow Six Siege will receive free upgrades on Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 for existing players. It allows existing Xbox One and PlayStation 4 discs to access the best available version when inserted into a next-generation console. That suggests “Smart Delivery” support on Xbox Series X, Microsoft’s name for easy cross-generation upgrades, with similar implementation posied for PlayStation 5.

Microsoft recently unveiled the full hardware specifications for its next-generation console, Xbox Series X.Source: Microsoft

“The only thing we are communicating right now is the fact that we are supporting cross-generation matchmaking. For example, PlayStation 5 players can play with PlayStation 4 players, and Xbox Series X players can play with Xbox One players,” Athanassof stated via a Ubisoft News post.

“The game will be backwards compatible, meaning that you can take your disc of Rainbow Six Siege on PS4 and put it in your PS5, or take your Xbox One disc and put it in your Xbox Series X. What we know for sure is that we don’t want to break our community, to split our community, and we don’t want to make you buy another Rainbow Six Siege at full price.”

Free upgrades were partially assumed, given the ongoing nature of Ubisoft’s shooter, looking to retain its 55-million-strong audience across generations. But while both upcoming consoles feature native backward compatibility, the void between consoles doesn’t mandate seamless upgrades for players. It’s a welcome move, coupled with cross-generation multiplayer and progression, easing the shift to Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5.