Monday morning Ubisoft took the opportunity to reintroduce Rainbow Six fans to a game that's been off the radar for a while. The COVID-19 pandemic hit game development in many harsh ways, but co-op tactical shooter Rainbow Six Quarantine had the added factor of no longer being in good taste. Ubisoft's now ready to reintroduce the game, rebranded as Rainbow Six Extraction. Extraction appears to be identical Quarantine, but without being immediately connected to the ongoing pandemic.
Ubisoft won't be waiting any longer to start sharing more information about the newly rebranded Rainbow Six Extraction, either. Alongside the announcement of the new name, Ubisoft released two videos. The first video allows Ubisoft Montreal producer Antoine Vimal du Monteil to personally reintroduce the game with its new name. One of Ubisoft's key goals with this video is explaining how Extraction fits the game, focusing on gameplay allowing players to "push forward" or "extract" in a cycle of risk/reward.
The second video is a new cinematic teaser trailer setting up Rainbow Six Extraction's story, showing a mysterious alien substance interacting with futuristic technology. But the bigger reveal is the closing announcement that Rainbow Six Extraction will be featured during Ubisoft's E3 2021 presentation on June 12. Ubisoft Forward, the company's E3 press conference, will have a pre-show that begins at 11:00 PT with the main show to follow at noon.
Rainbow Six Extraction was originally announced ahead of E3 2019. At the event, Ubisoft described it as a cooperative tactical shooter that is played in squads of three, but with a sci-fi spin. At the time, Extraction was originally slated for release in 2020, but as everyone is well familiar with how the COVID-19 pandemic changed plans. Since the pandemic began, Rainbow Six Extraction has been kept out of the spotlight. Ubisoft's certain to have spent that extra year productively.
Also reconfirmed is that Rainbow Six Extraction will remain a tie-in experience to Rainbow Six Siege. This was confirmed in 2019 when the game's announcement trailer featured several of Rainbow Six Siege's Operators. In the new videos, Ubisoft once again referred to Siege's Operators being playable characters.
It's now been two years since Rainbow Six Extraction was first announced and Ubisoft is finally ready to start sharing more about the game. Ubisoft Forward on June 12 will hopefully provide a wave of new information, including gameplay, a release date, platforms, playable Siege Operators, and more. And after, Ubisoft will see if fans are still excited for the game after two years of waiting for more information.
Rainbow Six Extraction is currently in development.