---
title: 'Killed by Ubisoft - The Tragedy of Rainbow Six Extraction'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=X1ZwUJOjJv8'
video_id: 'X1ZwUJOjJv8'
date: 2026-08-02
duration_sec: 1211
---

# Killed by Ubisoft - The Tragedy of Rainbow Six Extraction

> Source: [Killed by Ubisoft - The Tragedy of Rainbow Six Extraction](https://youtube.com/watch?v=X1ZwUJOjJv8)

## Summary

This video explores the development, release, and eventual cancellation of Rainbow Six Extraction, a PVE spin-off of the popular tactical shooter Rainbow Six Siege. It details the game's troubled production history, its rebranding from a non-violent space exploration game, and its failure to capture the success of its predecessor, ultimately leading to Ubisoft quietly ending support.

### Key Points

- **Rainbow Six Siege's Success and Extraction's Launch** [00:40] — Rainbow Six Siege launched in 2015 to positive reviews but faced early bugs and server issues. Ubisoft Montreal eventually elevated it to a high standard, dominating the games-as-a-service market. Extraction, a PVE spin-off, launched with little anticipation and received average reviews, failing to live up to Siege's success.
- **Crisis of Identity for Tom Clancy Franchises** [02:04] — Longtime players were asking for back-to-basics tactical shooters and stealth games, but Ubisoft was providing bombastic, over-the-top experiences. An alien invasion co-op shooter launched at a bad time for the Tom Clancy IP, which was known for grounded realism.
- **Pioneer: The Original Concept** [04:08] — Extraction began as a non-violent space exploration game called Pioneer, led by Far Cry 4's creative director Alex Hutchinson. The project was too ambitious and faced internal friction, leading to Hutchinson's removal in 2016. The concept was later retooled into a Rainbow Six PVE game.
- **Watch Dogs 2 Teaser and Public Reveal** [05:32] — During development, a Watch Dogs 2 mission allowed players to steal a fake E3 trailer for Pioneer, which depicted spacecraft traveling through stars. Fans were excited, but the project was eventually cancelled in January 2019 when Hutchinson tweeted 'rip Pioneer'.
- **Retooling into Rainbow Six Quarantine** [06:41] — Ubisoft retooled Pioneer into a Rainbow Six game, borrowing heavily from its foundations and using the Anvil engine. The game was announced as Rainbow Six Quarantine at E3 2019, featuring three-player co-op against alien parasites.
- **Outbreak Event and E3 2019 Announcement** [07:42] — The Outbreak event in Siege (March 2018) introduced PVE gameplay against the Chimera parasite. This concept was expanded into a full spin-off, announced at E3 2019 as Rainbow Six Quarantine, with a new dedicated team.
- **Delays and Rebranding** [09:03] — Quarantine was delayed multiple times due to development challenges and the COVID-19 pandemic. In early 2021, leaked assets suggested a name change to 'Parasite', but Ubisoft called it a placeholder. The final name 'Extraction' was revealed at E3 2021.
- **Extraction's Reveal and Monetization Concerns** [11:05] — At E3 2021, Ubisoft showcased gameplay with operators from Siege. However, pre-release footage leaked by YouTuber Big Fry TV showed expensive cosmetics (operator skins costing ~$10 each), raising concerns about monetization. A canceled single-player mode was also reported.
- **Pricing and Launch** [13:22] — Extraction launched at $40 for the standard edition and $50 for the deluxe, with a buddy pass allowing two friends to play free for 14 days. It launched day-and-date on Xbox Game Pass, boosting its player base initially.
- **Critical Reception and Player Feedback** [14:21] — Critics and players lamented that Extraction squandered innovative ideas and lost sight of the Rainbow Six identity. Uninspired map designs, a subpar progression system, and limited modes were criticized. Microtransactions were less egregious than Siege's, but the game still felt like a limited-time event.
- **Initial Success and Decline** [15:17] — Extraction was the fourth most played game on Game Pass console in its launch week, but couldn't maintain momentum. Ubisoft deployed crisis events (Spillover, Nightmare Fog, Eclipse, and Aftereffect) throughout 2022, but they weren't enough to retain players.
- **Cancellation and Aftermath** [16:40] — About a year after launch, Ubisoft quietly ceased development on Extraction. A player reported a bug on Discord and was told development had stopped months prior. The game's failure was seen as further proof that Tom Clancy games work best when grounded in reality, and that Ubisoft's trend-chasing hurt the franchise.

### Conclusion

Rainbow Six Extraction's failure highlights the risks of deviating from a franchise's core identity and chasing market trends. Despite initial success on Game Pass, the game's lack of content and identity led to its quiet cancellation, serving as a cautionary tale for game developers.

## Transcript

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the hill Treadway subject four is activated not gonna make it in time stick to the Playbook Broadway's got this operation Playbook Broadway's got this operation tooling like a Swiss watch
with the canceled Patriots game Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six returned to Market with Rainbow Six Siege in 2015. the online tactical shooter launched a positive critical reception but little Fanfare its early days beset by game
breaking bugs and frustrating server errors Ubisoft Montreal navigated the Maelstrom of issues over time elevating the title to a standard of quality where it could competently dominate in the oversaturated games as a service base
with siege's PVP multiplayer unlock Ubisoft tried its hand at PVE by building upon the alien infested outbreak mode that debuted in Siege the publisher originally subtitled the Endeavor quarantine then rebranded as
extraction because of the coronavirus pandemic regardless of its naming conventions many would argue the PVE experience hardly stood a chance not unlike his predecessor extraction hit retailers and digital storefronts
with little in the way of anticipation Ubisoft Montreal's newest Rainbow Six entry missed the mark critically however its at best average review scores couldn't live up to that which came before it was a technically sound
shooter sure but very little of what made Siege successful reflected in extraction we're still extraction arrived amid a crisis of identity for Tom Clancy's gaming franchises longtime players were
begging for Back to Basics tactical Shooters and stealth games while the French publisher supplied bombastic over-the-top experiences that ignored the grounded qualities so beloved in the likes of Rainbow Six Ghost Recon and
Splinter Cell in terms of Optics then an alien invasion-centric Co-op shooter couldn't have launched at a worse time for ubisoft's Tom Clancy IP this is the tragedy of Rainbow Six extraction
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deep within the fabric of Rainbow Six extraction sits the shell of something far removed from first person shootouts against strange alien species the project began as a Sci-Fi game of a different sort a non-violent space
exploration adventure that predated hello games no man's Sky a small team led by Far Cry 4 creative director Alex Hutchinson conceived the idea not long after the Far Cry sequel shipped in late 2014. according to Hutchinson the zero
gravity Endeavor codenamed pioneer manifested as an opportunity to expand systems players would have navigated 3D spaces environments compared to the wide open areas comprising ubisoft's Far Cry
installments a former developer told Kotaku the Montreal crew a specially pushed for Innovation by devising new forms of navigation and new ways of gaining objectives apparently the sheer scope of pioneer proved too difficult to
mold into a finished product thus the teammate developmental progress in fits and starts those familiar with internal happenings claim the friction between Hutchinson and a few other developers more or less ground production to a halt
resulting in Ubisoft pulling the Far Cry director and fellow leads from Pioneer in the fall of 2016. before long the publisher had placed different creative heads in charge and interestingly enough it was during this same period that the
public received its first glimpse of what Pioneer Could Have Become Pioneers creation ran parallel with development on Watchdogs too another of the Montreal Studios projects considering the sequel's hacking Motif
and San Francisco setting Watchdogs developers envisioned a mission in which players would infiltrate ubisoft's West Coast office to steal footage of an actual work in progress the in-game leak needed to feel more exciting than a
surprise reveal for say the division DLC yet something along the lines of a new Assassin's Creed game seemed too big pioneered despite its turmoil behind the scenes provided the perfect Middle Ground players who completed the hacking
mission in question were treated to a confidential E3 trailer depicting spacecraft traversing through the Stars to the surprise of Ubisoft Montreal fans and pundits instantly endeared themselves to the teaser but it all came
crashing down in January 2019 when Hutchinson cryptically tweeted rip Pioneer with a link to the fake E3 trailer the plug hadn't been pulled on Pioneer just yet however rather Ubisoft retooled
the concept jettisoning non-violent space exploration and making room for a borrowed heavily from Pioneers foundations that's not all it borrowed either in addition the publisher insisted on the use of rainbow six's
version of the proprietary Anvil engine sources who spoke to kataku divulge that a rainbow six game featuring zombie creatures and Aliens had previously landed on The Cutting Room floor meaning this particular branch of ubisoft's
anvil technology was no stranger to science fiction still many were build entered the spotlight during E3 2019 as Rainbow Six quarantine a Tom Clancy shooter with strange visitors from another planet thriving the story
from another planet thriving the story there he is we found him take him I'll cover you he's going into stasis
outbreak event went live during the operation Chimera expansion and ran for approximately one month starting in March of 2018 as opposed to the shooter's grounded player versus player offering outbreak introduced player vs
environment gameplay that pit users against powerful hostiles infected by an against powerful hostiles infected by an alien organism the Chimera parasite the concept behind this one-time Cooperative mode reared its head again during E3
2019 wherein Ubisoft announced Rainbow Six quarantine as a PVE spin-off featuring three-player Co-op notably the montreal-based outfit had assembled a new team for the spin-off allowing developers to fully support a
PVE Rainbow Six game with its own dedicated resources the brief E3 presentation teased a challenging experience designed to test every squad's tactical and survival skills versus an unknown and devastating
parasite reactions among Rainbow Six diehards were predominantly mixed with responses on social media posts and YouTube videos split between those interested in learning more and players who would have preferred an announcement
of new content and fixes for Siege either way Ubisoft had the co-op shooter penciled in for an early 2020 launch window on PC PS4 and Xbox one but fans wouldn't get to Stew on the news for very long before the publisher
release schedule four months after the E3 reveal quarantine along with Watchdogs Legion and the game later known as Immortals Phoenix Rising got pushed into ubisoft's subsequent fiscal year which began in
subsequent fiscal year which began in April 2020 and ended in March 2021 CEO Eve gemo explained in an October 2019 earnings call the need to give developers extra time so as to ensure their respective Innovations could be
perfectly implemented that Tom Clancy's The Division 2 and Ghost Recon critically and commercially likely proved motivating factors behind the delays as well the quarantine team in Montreal kept
their heads down for the next year another update about the PVE shooter didn't surface until ubisoft's October 2020 financial report which detailed postponed releases for Far Cry 6 and quarantine the company once more moved
both titles to the following fiscal year hoping to leverage their full potential in the context of production challenges caused by covet 19. by early 2021 chemo also affect the branding of the rainbow six game unreleased assets uploaded
through PlayStation Network's back end suggested a title change to Rainbow Six parasite not too long thereafter Ubisoft responded by issuing a statement to PC games n insisting the parasite moniker merely constituted a placeholder for
purposes of internal testing the true nature of the co-op title would emerge nature of the co-op title would emerge just in time for E3 2021
decide when to push forward or when to extract as you will soon discover extract as you will soon discover extraction is truly the name of the game
rainbow six's extraction rebranding ahead of the June 2021 Ubisoft forward event the actual E3 adjacent broadcast introduced a deep dive reveal comprised of seven minutes of all-out action extractions gameplay showcase depicted a
squad of three operators completing objectives while dispatching alien siege's operators joined the freyas playable Heroes their respective abilities nearly identical to their PVP counterparts safe for minor adjustments
tuned to better reflect PVE Gameplay at the time Ubisoft had the shooter slated for a September 2021 due date but a third delay to the following January further extended the launch window Ubisoft believed the prolonged
team plenty of time to fulfill its lofty Ambitions of delivering a Tripoli experience that changed how users played and thought about co-op games but while extraction was publicly flaunted as a Surefire would-be success
story alleged details from behind the scenes painted an entirely different picture in a video that Ubisoft has since copyright claimed YouTuber big fry TV shared pre-release footage showcasing extraction's in-game shop and cosmetic
items the Creator allegedly received the content from QA testers frustrated by their feedback impacted development specifically with respect to monetization for one costly operator skins fill this particular build each
one worth one thousand in-game credits or nearly ten dollars in real money skins unlocked through regular progression were featured as well though they looked of a lesser quality than the premium cosmetics
uncertainty about the age of the heavily monetized build encouraged prospective players to give Ubisoft the benefit of the doubt however big fry TV's brief report about a canceled single-player mode raised some eyebrows according to
the YouTube channel the company initially pushed for solo story campaign to flesh out the in-game offerings thereby justifying the standard 60 pricing model The Hectic nature of managing development during a global
pandemic forced Ubisoft Montreal's hand such that trimming down the content the supposed story mode included seemed a necessary cost for shipping the title on time without enough content to support a full-priced game Rainbow Six extraction
boasted a 40 price tag for its standard edition while the deluxe version with its three bonus packs cost fifty dollars buddy pass token sweetened the deal for both letting players invite two friends who didn't own the game to join them in
the fight against the archaeans for up to 14 days the lead up to extractions to 14 days the lead up to extractions January 2022 rollout also promised 18 Team playable operators from Siege a dozen Maps cross play and cross
progression 60 plus weapons and post-launch support early growth for the Rainbow Six spin-off by launching day and date on Xbox game pass for console and PC though Game Pass considerably bolstered
extractions player base at launch Team rainbows war with the archaeans could faithful for so long [Music]
foreign [Music] review scores accompany the extraction release with critics and players lamenting how Ubisoft Montreal squandered innovative ideas in a rainbow
six game that had lost sight of the Beloved properties identity in addition many felt the uninspired map designs were ill-equipped to support siege-like gameplay a subpar progression system and limited number of modes compounded the
shooter's lesser qualities further still making for a 40 title that could have easily passed as yet another limited time event at the very least extractions microtransactions weren't as egregious as those in Siege cosmetic items ruled
the day in this regard suggesting Ubisoft had finally learned its lesson after the critiques leveled against Assassin's Creed Odyssey and Ghost Recon for a while it appeared extraction would enjoy a modicum of success it logged an
week and became the fourth most played title on Game Pass on Console during the same period however the three-player PVE experience couldn't maintain such momentum long term even with the Montreal Studio deploying regular
updates the most significant of which were geared towards crisis events these limited events ran for approximately one month each kicking off in game whenever simpler mutations evolved into daring new threats that required operators to
rest back control from the alien menace four different crisis events ran throughout 2022 each one introducing free unlocks for new technologies gear cosmetics and operators the first spillover constituted the
ultimate defensive experience a change of pace from extractions typical offensive focused gameplay spill over lasted from mid-February to early March and tasked squads of three with fending off increasingly difficult waves of
enemies the nightmare fog event followed in May centered around a toxic tree fog Eclipse ran from August into September dropping players into zones suffering through power outages finally after
effect closed out the year of Crisis events chiefly offering the formidable death marker ability that obliterated alien foes marked by whichever Squad but the streamlined deployment of new content couldn't maintain players
interestingly those already deeply invested in extraction's predecessor the same predecessor developers believed wouldn't adversely affect the spin-off creative director Patrick mate stated as much in a pre-launch Gamespot interview
arguing extraction differentiated is soft enough from the 2015 title to keep one from cannibalizing the player base of the other mate expressed confidence in the internal notion that extractions high octane challenge could match and
exceed Rainbow Six Siege so much so that Ubisoft Montreal hedged its bets on the Sci-Fi shooter attracting serious veterans and newcomers alike worth taking evidenced by the Publisher's silent withdrawal of support
about a year after extraction hit store shelves one player joined ubisoft's Discord to report a bug and received a reply from the support team divulging that development for extraction had ceased a couple of months prior the
that developers would continue to receive reports concerning common issues and major errors of consequence yet the message implied the days of new maps operators and events were dead and gone strangely neither Ubisoft nor the crew
at Montreal saw fit to update players about the plan for pulling support if nothing else fans viewed Rainbow Six extraction as further proof that Tom Clancy branded games worked best when grounded in reality incorporating aliens
only complicated the already complicated fiction and their inclusion bore no signs of elevating the Tactical gameplay users had grown accustomed to over the years on the contrary extractions Myriad failings represented the culmination of
what went awry with the Division II and Ghost Recon breakpoint from the attentive Public's perspective Ubisoft ceased pushing the envelope with smart tactical experiences for its Clancy IP instead favoring themes and gameplay
elements better suited for service driven Revenue models Ghost Recon previously fell victim to their drastic shift extraction demonstrated that Rainbow Six despite siege's impressive sustainability wasn't immune to its
Publisher's penchant for following market trends hopefully team Rainbow's next major operation won't suffer a similar fate
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