Rainbow Six Siege developers will roll back controversial 'censorship' update, Ubisoft announces
Changes included getting rid of symbols and decoration that used skulls, blood that was cleaned up and the disappearance of gambling machines
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Rainbow Six Siege players around the world will not have to play a censored version of the game after a major U-turn by developers Ubisoft.
The company announced earlier this month that it would be making substantial changes to the game's look to allow it to be played in China. Those included getting rid of symbols and decoration that used skulls, blood that was cleaned up and the disappearance of gambling machines.
Despite assurances that the alterations were entirely superficial and would not affect gameplay, fans were immediately angry that such significant changes were being made wherever they were in the world. Though the alterations were in response to demands from the Chinese government, they were rolled out globally.
Now Ubisoft has listened to the anger and announced it will be reversing that decision, reverting the changes and bringing back the old look.
It said that it had made the decision because it had been "following the conversation with our community closely over the past couple of weeks, alongside regular discussions with our internal Ubisoft team, and we want to ensure that the experience for all our players, especially those that have been with us from the beginning, remains as true to the original artistic intent as possible".
The controversy has been unfolding since the very beginning of the month, when Ubisoft announced in an update that it would be making "aesthetic changes" to the game.
"We are currently working towards preparing Rainbow Six Siege for expansion into Asian territories," the developers wrote. "As such, there will be some adjustments made to our maps and icons to ensure compliance. None of these changes will have an impact on gameplay."
The same post explained that developers had chosen to make one global version of the game – rather than a censored and uncensored one – so that work didn't need to be duplicated when future changes were made.
The alterations will be rolled back from now, Ubisoft said, but some may still be left behind. "We will carefully remove them all to the best of our ability considering the short timeframe and with the lowest impact on the season’s launch date and our build stability," it wrote.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments