Ubisoft on Monday announced plans for an R6 Membership for its squad-based tactical shooter Rainbow Six Siege, a 2015 live-service game that we note is not free-to-play. The membership will offer exclusive content drops, but fans have taken to the game’s subreddit to vent their resentment at another wallet-grab.
The R6 Membership will cost $9.99 a month and this will allow gamers to “unlock a continuous stream of premium content that keeps your Ops equipped with the best exclusive gear.” A yearly version is priced at $79.99, ostensibly a savings of $40.
In an effort to entice people into the membership, a one-time early adopter bonus has been added for those who sign up between June 11 and June 18. This will include an additional bundle of gear for the Ash operator, and 600 in-game credits as a thank-you.
Some may relish the idea of getting more upgrades and access to levels, even if it costs real money, but the membership announcement hasn’t gone down well at all. Instead of people rushing to sign up, a boycott has been called.
R6 fans organize boycott on Reddit
Users rallied in R6’s official subreddit under a thread named “Let’s BOYCOTT Membership system.” The user starting the thread said, “I call for all Rainbow Six players, all those who love this unique game and want to keep it alive, to not fall into this scheme and keep your money in your pocket for this one time. DO NOT BUY the membership.”
They user called the membership “a sorry excuse for the major lack of content that there will be this year, with less content being released in favor of empty promises.” More than 3,000 people have since upvoted the post and almost 350 people have left comments in agreement.
“Honestly, I think everyone was onboard the minute they released this to not buy it,” one user replied. “I mean memberships/subscriptions just are the worst thing in games and irl.”
Another person, who goes by Initial-Climate9361, uninstalled the game in protest: “They need to focus on actual problems of the game and not make pointless microtransactions,” they said.
With the launch of the membership to take place in just a few weeks, it’ll be interesting to see how this performs, or if it even goes ahead.