Ubisoft is poised to bring in the next large Rainbow Six Siege update with Operation Blood Orchid, which introduces no less than three new operators and an intriguing new map based around an abandoned theme park. Within the still-functioning arcade section of the upcoming map, astute Rainbow Six Siege fans noticed that one of the arcade machine screens is flickering over a player's Rainbow Six Siege statistics with the message 'keep playing forever'.

While some fans thought it was just showing random player statistics, the truth is much more touching: as it turns out, the arcade machine only shows the stats for one particular player, and he was a hardcore fan of the game and a community regular who passed away earlier this year.

As gamers can see in the picture below, the arcade screen details the level, games played, matches played, and win/loss ratio for the player, who went by the online pseudonym of BostonBearJew. As a Redditor named FunkMob925 explained, this man - named Zach - became a regular Rainbow Six Siege player while living in Boston. He and a group of friends often built up a full squad every night (and played 5 vs 5 custom games when too many people were on at once), and he was even part of the official tournament scene and consistently ranked diamond online.

Rainbow Six Siege Tribute Deceased Player

Tragically, Zach passed away on March 21, 2017 at the age of 24. It was then that one of his friends contacted Craig Robinson, a prominent Rainbow Six community developer, and asked if there would be any way to honor the dedicated gamer in a future Rainbow Six Siege update. Robinson reportedly stated he would see what could be done, but made no promises. Evidently, the development team at Ubisoft heard the request and found a clever way to make a permanent tribute to a fan who had become a rock for many members of the Rainbow Six Siege community.

Gaming studios have been known to honor their fallen fans when possible, whether this comes in the form of a touching care package to their relative or, like in this instance, an in-game Easter Egg. It's no small task to insert a respectful tribute to a player in a way which doesn't break the immersion for other gamers, but it seems like Ubisoft has done a respectful and well-done job here. Rest in peace, Zach. Keep playing forever.

Rainbow Six Siege is available now on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. Operation Blood Orchid is scheduled to arrive September 5, 2017, which is when gamers will be able pay respects at Zach's in-game memorial for themselves.

Source: Reddit