Sign up to FREE email alerts from Daily Star - Gaming Subscribe Thank you for subscribing See our privacy notice Invalid Email

(Image: Ubisoft)

Since Rainbow Six SIege first launched in late 2015, fans have been pining for a new singleplayer experience set in this modern rendition of the popular Tom Clancy series.

Both Rainbow Six Vegas and Vegas 2 were huge hits for Ubisoft, offering a more tense and tactical substitute to the then infant Call of Duty franchise.

When we spoke to Rainbow Six Brand Director, Alexandre Remy, last year at the 2018 Paris Major, he didn’t mince words when it came to discussing whether the team at Ubisoft Montreal were pursuing a new singleplayer entry in the franchise.

“When you are building a basketball stadium, are you also opening a football activity within that basketball stadium?"

It was a strange analogy, but as Remy went on it made more sense. The message was clear. They're not interested in single player (football), they want to focus on what they've got (basketball).

However, earlier this year the developer sent a survey out to fans, asking whether they’d like to see new modes or “new types of gameplay”.

It specifically mentions co-operative PvE content, a singleplayer campaign, and even an open-world exploration mode.

Naturally, we wanted to chase this up with Remy and got the chance to do so at the recent Pro League Season IX Finals in Milan. Once again, he was fairly adamant on the studio’s position:

“No, no, no. The Rainbow Six solo/singleplayer experience is dead.”

“For Siege, forget about a solo campaign. We want this game to be a pure competitive multiplayer experience. All of our resources are going in that direction and to invest those resources elsewhere would be a digression.”

“When you have a game that requires so much support, and so much caring in patching and balancing, I don’t think you have the luxury to divert. “

“Our fans expect a certain level of quality and a mastery in our games that is extremely high. Why would you only make an OK-ish solo campaign?”

(Image: ©Ubisoft / Joao Ferreira)

Given its ongoing popularity and status as one of the world’s most-watched esports, churning out a singleplayer campaign wouldn’t mesh well with Siege or Ubisoft’s treatment of their games as live services.

Instead, we’ve seen the team at Montreal try to build some fiction around that multiplayer core, fleshing out the playable operators, giving them actual identities and storylines.

You also have to consider the Tom Clancy franchise as a whole. While most games under that umbrella - namely Ghost Recon and The Division - have entrenched online features, they can both be played solo.

The cancellation of Rainbow Six Patriots has only added salt to the wound for fans banking on a new singleplayer entry in the franchise. Although we never got an in-depth look at the project, there were early playable builds and an interesting storyline centred on a domestic terrorist threat.