Rainbow Six Siege - Doing DLC Right

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege is nailing how DLC should be packaged and sold right now. Instead of falling back on the industry standard of expensive expansion packs that not only split the community, but also fail to exceed consumer expectation (I’m looking at you Batman Arkham Knight). Content in Rainbow Six: Siege can be bought through in-game currency, with the option to purchase it available at all times.

It’s a far cry from the £40 season pass standard that many developers and publishers are currently pushing. I feel for the people that bought into The Division DLC on release, the game is currently a complete mess and fail to see how it can be fixed -alas, that’s not why we’re here.

Rainbow Six: Siege is currently doing a great job of releasing DLC, instead of charging players for each map that comes out, they are free. Maps released post-launch have come as part of an update rather than a transaction. Giving players a fairly steady stream of new content. Since release, both Operation Black Ice and Operation Dust Line have released as part of an update. Both packs feature a new map as well as new operators to choose from. At release Ubisoft had four expansion packs planned, so far two of them have released, with two more set to follow before the end of the year.

The concept of releasing free maps is pretty rare within the world of first person shooters, most developers use additional map packs as an extra source of revenue. I don’t have a major issue with this but often find the amount of DLC post-release a little overwhelming. My biggest issue is the way premium map packs can split communities. The only reason I spent loads on Call Of Duty DLC as a teenager was through fear of being isolated, the fear of being that one person without the DLC thus having no one to play it with. This is how DLC works, developers know they can charge for the maps and consumers will purchase as they don’t want to miss out.

Siege completely avoids this by making all the maps that release completely free.The game updates and you have access to two new maps, free of charge. This for me is the perfect way to keep me interested in the title and keep me playing. I got bored of The Division within a month. The lack of core content and the reliance on forthcoming DLC to keep things fresh just completely put me off. I’ve spent more time playing Siege than I did The Division. I know it’s a longshot but I’d love to see more developers follow through with this kind of DLC plan.

Even the way the characters are set up in-game is great. There are two ways to unlock characters in Rainbow Six Siege. Players can either pay for them using the in-game money, earned through both multiplayer and single player, or they can just pay for them straight up if they wish. The core characters are really cheap and don’t take long to save up for, the post-release characters are a little bit more expensive but are well within reach. I’m just about to reach my saving up target which means I can purchase one of the premium characters for free, well not quite free, but with the time I’ve invested in the game. I think this is great as it means the developers are giving those people truly invested in the game an avenue to unlock the premium characters.

It’s something that has been done in a few other games, Street Fighter V has something similar in which players can pay for new downloadable characters using the in-game currency called fight money. Street Fighter V and Rainbow Six Siege are the only two games on console that currently allow this. It’s common practise in the MMO genre though. Games like Guild Wars and Runescape both release free content for players, whilst charging for aesthetic items. It’s a neat way to keep the community interested in the game, while using revenue to create expansions and free content.

I honestly think this is the best way for developers to create a thriving community without splitting it, whilst still gaining a source of revenue from a game post release. I’d love to see it adopted as a standard industry practise, especially for console releases. Unfortunately season passes are far too valuable to scrap, and developers know this. I’m going to keep enjoying the free content that Ubisoft are giving players, and enjoying a phenomenal first person shooter.