Rainbow Six Siege X, also known as Siege X, is the latest evolution of Tom Clancy’s modern combat franchise. It’s a classic title where a team of operators tries to break into a house or other structure and take out a defending team and perform a mission, like rescuing a hostage.

It launched on June 10, 2025, along with Operation Daybreak and includes a free-to-play version, modernized maps, new destructible elements, and the new Dual Front game mode. 

Siege X also introduces a new pick and ban system for ranked matches and an audio overhaul. The latest update is the biggest the company has ever done, and I spoke with Alex Karpazis, creative director at Ubisoft Montreal for Rainbow Six Siege at the recent Summer Game Fest in Los Angeles.

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege came out in 2015, and the esports tournaments started in 2017. Now it’s one of the more sustainable esports competitions among games in the world, and it’s part of the Esports World Cup in Saudi Arabia. Every new season comes along every three months, with new operators, gadgets, maps and features. There are now more than 70 operators in the game.

Siege X also brings a brand-new 6v6 mode, gameplay changes that deepen its tactical core, a visual overhaul of classic maps and more. The aim is to create more excitement around the game and attract more new fans, while at the same time keeping the hardcore players satisfied. That’s always a tough balancing act to walk. Karpazis said this version has an improved onboarding process, and he noted that 6v6 takes off some of the pressure on each team member in the 5v5 matches.

The latest maps now also have destructible ingredients. Throughout the map there are fire extinguishers, gas pipes, metal detectors and more to disrupt enemy plans. Many of the new devices and ways for breaching will reward the teams that attack with moment-to-moment strategy in mind, Karpazis said.

Here’s an edited transcript of our interview.

GamesBeat: Can you bring me up to speed on Rainbow Six?

Alex Karpazis: We call it Siege X, but it does represent the tenth year of Siege being live and growing. [We have gone] live with a big update, the biggest update we’ve ever done, with a new game mode, new changes. The game is going into what we call free access. Anybody can download it and play with their friends. That’s something we’re really excited about.

GamesBeat: What led to some of the decisions around this?

Karpazis: The big thing–first, we wanted to make sure that all of our community could still enjoy the game, which is why we decided to do a massive evolution that answers a lot of what they’ve been asking for. Changes to movement, changes to the audio system, which we completely revamped to make it more natural and much more accurate. We also wanted to make sure that even though the game is insanely tough – it’s a challenging game – new players can check it out and download it for free with their friends. We’ve revamped the onboarding experience so they can see what makes Siege so satisfying.

On top of that we made a brand new game mode. Both veterans and new players can enjoy it together. They’re both on a level playing field, because it’s all new. We’ve made big, big changes. You can play against bots now until you’re ready. You know the maps. You feel confident you can jump online with other players. We have the new 6v6 game mode. It relieves some of the stress of being in a 5v5 situation. It mixes attackers and defenders together, and it’s a smaller pool of operators. You don’t have to learn all 70-plus characters to play the game mode. Lots of changes so you can jump in and maybe get a bit more confident more quickly.

GamesBeat: What were some observations that led to this? When you watch the best players in an esports setting, what do you learn from them that maybe turns out to be something you want to change in the game?

Karpazis: A [few] weeks ago we had our first esports tournament in Brazil on the new Siege X build. It was incredible to see. Those are pros pushing it to its limits. One of the most exciting new things we’ve introduced–we call them destructible ingredients. Throughout the map there are fire extinguishers, gas pipes, metal detectors. Now, instead of just having a character where you need to use their gadget as a piece of the strategy, it’s more about the environment. Seeing the pros use that–when they’re running around, maybe they want to cut off a rotation or cover their flank. They’ll pop a gas pipe and it detonates and explodes everywhere. It’s so satisfying to see that level of strategy come alive with the pros playing.

GamesBeat: Gamers in Brazil always seem super enthusiastic. Is that a big market for you?

Karpazis: It definitely is. Mainly because we really do see the passion of the Brazilian community. They always show up on the big stage. A Brazilian team won the tournament there, and they’re quite dominant, actually, in our esports scene.

GamesBeat: How much of the average player’s game is peeking around a corner and getting shot between the eyes?

Karpazis: [laughs] What we pride ourselves on so much is the tactical gameplay. You see it through all the levels. But actually, you see it the most with top players. They work as a team. They have strategies. It’s not about run and gun, waiting for someone to dip from behind a corner. That’s what makes Siege so special. Again, with Siege X we just want to heighten all of that moment to moment strategy. Making sure it’s all viable. We’re also going back to old characters, making sure that their gadgets are fun. We reworked an operator called Clash. All of this is to make sure that tactics and strategy is king in the game. We’re not just rewarding run and gun. I think that’s why we still stand so much against other games.

GamesBeat: How does the game have this staying power? Why has it lasted so long?

Karpazis: We like to think, first of all, that we listen to the community. We want to make sure we answer their needs and keep things fresh for them. But really, Siege is such an original idea. Nobody else has ever attempted to copy it. It has such strategic depth that you can spend thousands of hours – and some players do – just learning and growing and mastering the game. The skill ceiling is so high. It’s so satisfying to go on that learning journey, starting from the bottom, learning each operator, learning each map. Players really enjoy that experience. They know that they can get invested in it when it’s been out for 10 years and we’re promising another 10 years with Siege X.

GamesBeat: Did you ever think about doing a new game instead of the big update?

Karpazis: Honestly, when we started thinking about this, it was one of the first things we looked at. Also, it was one of the first things we dismissed. Players invest hundreds of hours in our game. They invest a lot of money as well. We want to respect that. We don’t want to throw it away with a sequel that would get rid of all their time, cosmetics, skins. We wanted everything to stay with them. We want to honor that in the future as well, so that everyone knows that there’s a future when they come to Siege.

GamesBeat: Have you ever had a moment where you brought something classic back? There’s so much history to some of these games now, like World of Warcraft with Classic. Warzone just brought back their original map.

Karpazis: It’s interesting you bring that up. Our actual tenth anniversary is in December. We plan to have an in-game event that will honor some of that history, some of the elements that players associate with the game through the years, the many years. That’s something we’re going to celebrate for the tenth anniversary of Siege.

GamesBeat: Sometimes it’s also a mixed thing. There are sometimes negative reactions to big changes. How do you evaluate how your changes are going over?

Karpazis: We’ve actually been testing all of the Siege X changes over the past two years with the community, behind the scenes. Getting their feedback and making tweaks. We need to stick to our identity as a tactical PvP shooter. That’s what we’re good at. We don’t want to stray away from that. Every single change we did, we made sure that the community was involved and was testing it. We were getting that feedback. We also included the pros. We don’t want to break this game. We want to make sure that it thrives.

GamesBeat: Where have you had your biggest esports event? Was it the Brazilian one, or have there been others?

Karpazis: Just over a year ago we were in Brazil. The stadium was at max capacity, 10,000 people. Biggest crowd we’ve ever had, and probably one of the most exciting finals we’ve ever had. Two twin brothers actually faced off against each other in the finals. It was insane. We didn’t script it. It was fantastic, and we saw a huge turnout.

GamesBeat: Are you part of the Esports World Cup?

Karpazis: We are, yes, but we also have our own kind of seasonal league that goes on. The Esports World Cup is its own competition that doesn’t funnel into the league standings at the end of the year. It takes a lot out of the teams that participate, but I think we have one of the healthiest esports ecosystems. Our teams enjoy the competition. They get the rest that they need, too, to make sure they can continue in the league format. I think they’ve really appreciated that.

GamesBeat: Do you notice some difference between the types of teams who play in Rainbow Six versus other games?

Karpazis: Speaking for our esports scene, we’ve received amazing feedback from the teams. They say it’s one of the most sustainable and strong esports scenes. They know that if they get invested, they will be rewarded. We have a partnership program called R6 Share. We partner with them and make sure that they can create skins to add into the game. There’s a revenue share for them there. It’s sustainably built. Because of that, we have great partnerships and great feedback. SSG has been singing our praises. It’s been great to see.

GamesBeat: Where do you see the esports teams and stars coming from?

Karpazis: For us, it always starts in the game. We have a challenger league, which helps find new talent, essentially. It feeds into the top tier league. We have our ranked competitions. We introduced Siege Cup, which is an in-game tournament that anybody at home can sign up for to play with a full five stack and have fun.

Because of how much we believe in the esports scene, for Siege X we’re introducing the esports tab, which lets people follow tournaments and understand what the esports scene is all about. It links whenever there’s a live match going on. Making sure there’s enough visibility in all of our esports ecosystem to make sure anyone who’s a hot new talent can get scouted by the pro teams and picked up. That’s important for us. The grassroots means so much to the sustainability of our esports scene.

GamesBeat: Do you have outside brands taking an interest in supporting tournaments?

Karpazis: We have sponsorships. Again, some great partnerships. The last Reload event we partnered with Xbox Game Pass. They were really supportive. It was a lot of fun to see that kind of support at a big event like that.

GamesBeat: There was a lot of talk for a while about the esports winter. Did you see a trend like that and then a recovery? Do you feel like we’re past that?

Karpazis: Honestly, our scene has been going pretty strong ever since the inception of our league. Again, because of the partnership we have, this shared sustainability, making sure that they have a rev share within our game–that means we can sustain that for long periods of time. Our prize pools have always been super healthy and super competitive. That’s what orgs want to see. They want to see commitment. It’s a balancing act for us between making sure the game itself is always thriving, but the esports scene as well. We have that commitment.

It’s a fantastic showcase for the game. If you watch it online, not only is it entertaining for people to watch, but they also learn a lot. Our players usually adopt the strategies of pros, what they see in the esports scene, about six months after the pros show how it’s done. It’s almost an educational tool. It’s invaluable for us. People can get that much more invested and learn that much more about the depth of Siege.