Rainbow Six Siege Finally Getting Full Cross-Play, Many Years Later

Nine years after release, and Rainbow Six Siege will soon feature cross-play between PC and console. The feature will launch with the Year 9 Season 4 update on December 3, alongside anticheat updates to try and contend with PC cheaters.

Starting December 3, console players can join the PC player pool freely. That being said, PC players won’t be able to join the console matchmaking pool. If you’re in a party with at least one PC player, the group will be moved to the PC pool. For console users who play ranked playlists with cross-play active, they’ll maintain a PC rank separate from the console rank.

Adding cross-play to a game that’s almost a decade old demands some considerations, and the matchmaking quirks aren’t the only ones. Developer Ubisoft is implementing anticheat updates to improve cheater detection to “ensure fairness” once cross-play comes in. As such, players with a Mousetrap Penalty, which is aimed at preventing console players from using mouse and keyboard, will be forced into the PC matchmaking pool for 90 days.

If said players turn off cross-play, they’ll be unable to join matchmaking until they toggle the option back on. Moreover, any matches with a detected cheater will be automatically canceled with no impact on matchmaking rating. The Reputation Center is being overhauled to best reflect the actions that can lead to warnings or penalties. According to Ubisoft, details such as reputation, rank, and match replays will be concentrated in a new hub with account stats coming soon.

The Rainbow Six Siege Year 9 Season 4 update adds a new operator called Blackbeard, who carries a H.U.L.L. adaptable shield, balance changes for R.O.U. Projectors, Thunderbird’s Kona Station, and ballistic shields, and a number of general tweaks. You can read the full details in the official season announcement post.