If you’ve logged hundreds of hours securing bombsites, clutching 1v3 rounds, or grinding ranked for that next Platinum rank, you’ve probably wondered at some point who owns Rainbow Six Siege now, and how that team shapes every part of the game you love. The game has changed drastically since its rocky 2015 launch, going from a niche tactical shooter to one of the most popular competitive games in the world, with tens of millions of active players every month. Ownership and development control have shifted a little over the years, and those shifts directly impact everything from operator releases to map reworks, anti-cheat updates, and even the cost of battle passes. We’re breaking down all the details so you can understand exactly who is calling the shots for your favorite tactical shooter, and what that means for you as a player.
Who Owns Rainbow Six Siege Now, Exactly?
First off, the short answer is that Ubisoft Entertainment SA is the official owner of Rainbow Six Siege, holding all publishing, intellectual property, and commercial rights to the game. The original development was led by Ubisoft Montreal, the same studio behind hits like Far Cry and Assassin’s Creed, but over the years the dev team has expanded to include support from 10+ Ubisoft studios around the world, including teams in Toronto, Barcelona, and Kyiv. You might have heard talk of a sale or ownership change a few years back, when there were rumors of larger companies acquiring Ubisoft, but those talks never resulted in a deal, and Ubisoft has retained full control of the Rainbow Six IP the entire time. It’s important to distinguish between IP ownership and day-to-day development too: while Ubisoft as a whole owns the game, a dedicated internal team called the Rainbow Six Siege Dev Team handles all regular updates, balance changes, and community engagement.
How Ownership Has Changed Since Siege’s Launch
When Siege first launched in 2015, the entire project was run exclusively by Ubisoft Montreal, with a small team of around 100 devs focused on fixing the game’s many launch bugs and building out its core content. The game underperformed commercially in its first year, leading Ubisoft to almost shut it down entirely, but the dev team pushed for a live service model, with free content updates instead of paid DLC maps, to win over players. Siege’s live service model was almost scrapped in 2016 because of low launch sales, but the team’s gamble paid off, and by 2017, Siege had hit 20 million registered players, leading Ubisoft to expand the dev team and bring on support studios to handle the growing workload. There were no external ownership changes during this time, but internal control shifted from a small Montreal team to a cross-studio steering committee that makes all major decisions about the game’s future. The only time ownership was ever in question was during 2022, when there were public reports of companies like Tencent and Microsoft exploring a Ubisoft acquisition, but those negotiations fell apart, and Ubisoft remains an independent publisher as of 2024. For players, that means you don’t have to worry about the game being pulled from storefronts or locked behind a separate subscription service any time soon.
What Current Ownership Means for Regular Siege Players
Now that you know the group that owns Rainbow Six Siege now is a cross-studio Ubisoft team, you’re probably wondering how that impacts your time spent in the game. The current ownership structure has both positives and negatives for casual and competitive players alike, and we’ve broken down the most important impacts below:
One common complaint from players right now is that Ubisoft’s focus on cosmetic microtransactions has ramped up over the last two years, with limited-time skins often costing $20 or more. But it’s worth noting that those microtransactions are what fund all the free content updates, so the tradeoff is that you don’t have to buy a new sequel every 2-3 years to keep playing with your friends. That's a big difference from other competitive shooters like Call of Duty, which require you to buy a new $70 game every year to access the latest ranked playlist.
What’s Next for Rainbow Six Siege Under Current Ownership
Ubisoft has publicly stated that it plans to support Rainbow Six Siege through at least 2030, so you don’t have to worry about the game shutting down any time soon. The dev team’s current roadmap includes a number of highly requested features, including a long-awaited replay system for ranked matches, a rework of the ranked progression system to cut down on smurfing, and 4 new operators per year for the next 3 years. There are also plans to expand the game’s cross-platform play features, with full cross-progression across console, PC, and cloud platforms launching later this year. One thing players should keep an eye on is Ubisoft’s ongoing push to expand the Rainbow Six IP beyond Siege, with spin-off games like Rainbow Six Extraction and Rainbow Six Mobile already launched, and a new competitive PvP game codenamed Project Quantum currently in development. None of these spin-off projects will pull resources away from Siege’s core development team, according to official statements, so regular content updates for Siege will continue as scheduled for the foreseeable future. If you’re a long-time player, you can expect the game to keep evolving, but the core tactical gameplay that made Siege popular will stay intact, per the dev team’s public promises to the community.
At the end of the day, if you’re a casual or competitive Siege player, knowing who owns Rainbow Six Siege now helps you understand why certain decisions get made, from battle pass pricing to balance update timelines. Ubisoft’s ownership has had its ups and downs over the years, but the team’s long-term commitment to the game means you can keep grinding ranked, playing custom matches with friends, and attending community events for years to come. If you want to stay up to date on the latest ownership or development news, you can follow the official Siege dev team on social media, where they regularly post roadmap updates and respond to player feedback.
