Rainbow Six Siege year three will kick off a little differently than the previous two. Season One, called Operation Chimera, will add a pair of new operators to the action, one from France and one from Russia, but instead of a new map it will feature the launch of the game's first-ever co-op event, Outbreak, a three-player "new fantasy" about quarantine and biohazard.

Appropriately, both of the new operators will be "biohazard specialists," although it's a good bet that they're the sort of experts in the field who carry guns instead of clipboards and advanced degrees from Johns Hopkins (although I suppose it's possible they have those too). That suggests a zombie apocalypse scenario of some sort—more Killing Floor than George Romero, probably, but with the same sort of outcome.

It sounds like fairly familiar territory, but brand manager Alex Remy suggested during the Pro League Season Three finals yesterday (start around the 2:23:00 mark for the relevant bits) that there's more to it than meets the eye. "With that special event, we are taking [the new operators] and a bunch of Rainbow Six in a four-week event that has really a twist on it. Expect something that you were not counting on," he said.

"It's a way for us to give a present, a gift, to all the players that have been with us. How do we sort of change the formula, create some surprise effect right at the start of Year Three? Mission Outbreak is exactly for this. Four weeks of co-op, three players against something you may full expect."

Season Two of year three will return to a more traditional form, with two new operators from Italy's GIS [Gruppo di Intervento Speciale] and a new map set in Italy. Season Three will see two more operators, one from Scotland Yard and the other from Delta Force, and the "complete rework" of an existing map, while Season Four will give players two new operators from Morocco's GIGR [Groupe d'Intérvention de La Gendarmerie Royale] and a new map set in that country.

Outbreak will be free for all Rainbow Six Siege owners, and will have its own "exclusive collection of cosmetics," but will only be available for a single four-week stretch during Season One. Full details will be announced in February 2018 during the Six Invitational.