2021 was not the best year for Ubisoft, by many accounts. The company's headfirst dive into creating NFTs through Ubisoft Quartz was poorly received by many in the gaming community. Confusion and anger were rife among both the fans of the games Ubisoft produces and the developers working for the publisher. The move was ultimately criticised and shed negative light on a company, though it wasn't the only controversy Ubisoft has faced in recent times.
Although the tactical shooter Rainbow Six Siege was released in 2015, the game has continued to rise in popularity while also getting continual updates and new content. In 2021 even, Rainbow Six Siege sold well on the Steam marketplace, despite its age. Unlike other tactical shooters, such as Counter Strike: Global Offensive, Rainbow Six Siege has not yet become free-to-play. Currently though, Rainbow Six Siege and its publisher Ubisoft have come under criticism after one artist claimed that the game had been using their art for years without credit or payment.
The artist, who began a long Twitter thread looking to see if their art, which was a digital artowkr of a screen glitch, had been utilised in media without the artist's permission. The artist initially published their image with an attribution-noncommercial creative commons license, and was saddened to see that the art was now being "used specifically for commercial purposes with zero attributions by a company." This is not the first time the gaming world has seen a famous game or company allegedly steal artwork. Back in 2020, Namco artist Hiroshi Ono reported that his original designs for Pac-Man and Galaga were stolen.
The Twitter thread continued until the artist stumbled upon the use of their glitch art in Rainbow Six Siege. Though the artist had initially stated that they "don't mind that it's being used everywhere," as the art has been spread around all over the internet, what upsets the artist most appears to be when a larger company has used their work without proper credit or pay. While this may not be Ubisoft's biggest controversy, it is one that has the attention of Rainbow Six Siege fans, as one took to Twitter to say "imagine making a multi billion dollar game and apparently using an artist's work without permission or compensation."
Ubisoft and the developers of Rainbow Six Siege have yet to respond to the artist's tweets, though artists and fans aren't the only people currently unhappy with Ubisoft. Top developers have been leaving the publisher as of late, citing multiple reasons, though low pay, concerns over leadership, and confusion were listed as reasons for the departure of some of Ubisoft's developers, as it seems even Ubisoft employees are dissatisfied with the company's current state.