Rainbow Six: Siege's Release In China Is Changing The Game For Everybody

As Ubisoft gets ready to roll out Rainbow Six: Siege in Asian territories, the developer is preparing changes that will actually have an impact on players all over the world. The good news is that these are 100 percent aesthetic changes that won't have any impact on gameplay so, don't worry, this is still the Rainbow Six so many folks have grown to know and love.

Over on the Rainbow Six blog, a recent post highlights the aesthetic changes that are being brought to Siege through an upcoming update. The post begins by explaining that these changes will affect all versions of the game, but it reiterates the fact that the changes will in no way impact gameplay. They offer some pretty solid reasons for making the changes universal, too.

But first, what kind of aesthetic changes are we talking about? In many Asian territories, skulls are considered a pretty extreme taboo and are not allowed to be depicted in video games. The same can be said for more extreme images of blood and gore or sexuality.

While Rainbow Six: Siege is violent by nature, no changes actually need to be made to the run and gun gameplay. Some images within the UI and environments, though, push (or flat-out step over) the boundaries of what's allowed in the territory. So, in order to accommodate those issues, Ubisoft will be altering things like the icons in the game's action feed. The knife that pops up to show a player has been defeated via melee, for instance, will now be a fist. Similarly, the skulls that typically show a player's death will now be a body with a cross over the chest. The friendly fire icon is similar, only it's on a triangular background.

Otherwise, the only big changes are to images within the game world. A logo sporting a skull originally will now feature a masked figure. Slot machines have also been removed, as well as aesthetic blood splatters and neon signs depicting what is clearly a naked woman. While the blood is simply being removed, the slot machines are being replaced by things like beer bottles, and the neon sign of the woman is now a neon sign of a hand pointing the way to adult entertainment.

As for the reason all versions of Siege will be receiving these changes, the blog post explains that it will be a much better use of resources to simply make the minor alterations and make them universal, thus making it so the developers don't have to keep working on two separate builds of the game. The intent is to "reduce the duplication of work on the development side" and, by doing so, the team will be able to continue working with a singular vision toward staying aligned with global regulations. They go on to reiterate that the core game will not be altered in any way, they're just making adjustments to art and visuals.