What To Expect From Rainbow Six Siege's Next-Gen Upgrade

Gamers finally know when to expect the next generation upgrade for the long-running Rainbow Six Siege, thanks to an official announcement on the PlayStation Blog. The game will become playable on the PlayStation 5 and Series X alongside the arrival of the game's Year 5 Season 4 update on Dec. 1. This update brings with it optimizations for graphics, performance, and control.

While Ubisoft had announced its intentions to upgrade Rainbow Six Siege for the new generation of consoles, neither of the previous game-specific or company-wide announcements gave a definite date. Given the recent bad news Rainbow Six fans got regarding ongoing delays for Rainbow Six Quarantine, fans were curious about the new upgrade's time table.

The PlayStation Blog's announcement, written by SIEA senior content communication specialist Tim Turi, has given fans a concrete date for when to expect a next-generation Rainbow Six Siege experience. Turi also explains that the next-generation versions of the game will now be able to run in either 120 FPS or full 4K resolution through the support of two new modes, Performance Mode and Resolution Mode.

An IGN interview with Mazen Elbawab, software product lead for Rainbow Six Siege, helps sketch out the differences between the two modes and how gamers can use them to enhance their experience. In performance mode, the game will run at 120 FPS while rendering the highest resolution possible, while in resolution mode the game will run in 4K while producing the highest FPS possible.

The option to choose between the two modes will become available if the game detects a 4K TV capable of 120Hz connected to your console. While some marginal improvements to textures will help the game look crisper and the frame rate improvements will help the game run smoother, the team's focus was on improving performance. Elbawab explains, "The idea was to get as close as possible to the competitiveness of PC hardware, which is why we focused on getting up to 120FPS."

Rainbow Six Siege's next-generation upgrade will also improve load times across all versions of the game. On both Series X and PlayStation 5, load speeds have been increased, while across the board optimizations should increase load speeds on all game generations. In addition, match-making will be cross-generational, although not cross-platform, meaning Series X owners can play Xbox One gamers, but PlayStation and Xbox gamers will remain separate.

Finally, Elbawab described some of the new upgrades to the game that are coming exclusively to the PlayStation 5, taking advantage of the new console's haptic feedback and adaptive triggers technology. New custom presets for different weapons and gadgets will be reflected in adaptive triggers, while audio cues will produce different haptic feedback reactions. However, all of these features of the PS5 controller can be turned down or off, if players prefer.