When the trailer for Rainbow Six: Patriots hit during the Spike Video Game Awards last year, many fans were taken aback by the direction this next entry was headed. Rainbow Six has always been a team that deals with domestic threats, but typically those threats never felt as visceral, or as real, as the ones depicted in the trailer.

It seemed like a huge gamble for Ubisoft, but one that could bring a new sense of realism to the shooter genre, something gamers haven't seen for some time. There was so much promise contained within that trailer, but, if recent events are any indication, that just might be all gamers will receive: promise.

According to Game Informer, many of the key creative staff responsible for Rainbow Six: Patriots are no longer working on the project, including the game's Creative Director David Sears. From what we're hearing this restructuring will result in a complete do-over for this title, leading us to believe that the controversial trailer is the last gamers will see of this new direction.

There's no word on if the tone of the game or its content factored into this corporate restructuring, but based on how the trailer was received it seems a real possibility. Some, on the other hand, thought this new direction for Rainbow Six would bring a greater sense of urgency to the game's events, and could have possibly made for an experience that rivals the best the film world has to offer. The core of the Rainbow Six series was still there -- stop a terrorist organization -- but experiencing that story from a wide variety of perspectives, including civilians', caught our attention. Unfortunately, those ideas just couldn't be made a reality.

But all hope isn't necessarily lost either, as it has not been confirmed that the current direction was scrapped altogether, only key creative personnel. Perhaps Ubisoft was simply looking to place David Sears on another of their projects. Who's to say?

All that's clear is there was a lot of potential contained within the Rainbow Six: Patriots concept, and we still hope that Ubisoft is sticking to the spirit of that idea. They do promise to reveal more details about the game at a later date.

Do you think that Ubisoft should take Rainbow Six: Patriots in a new direction after that VGAs trailer? Did such a bold choice scare the publisher away from an intriguing concept?

Source: Game Informer