Negative reviews started flooding in a few days ago and have since dropped the game down to a ‘mixed’ rating on Steam. The common sentiment is that Ubisoft has failed their fanbase by caving in to such demands, which are seen by many as censoring free speech. Reddit has also been a host for negative sentiment among players, who are upset the changes won’t even add to the player base due to branched region-locking standards that will affect areas that require changes to the core gameplay (like China).
This isn’t the first time that Ubisoft has implemented some type of censorship into Rainbow Six Siege. A few months ago, Ubisoft added a new system that would automatically kick players for using harmful language and slurs. It’s important to note, however, that that change was to address toxicity within the game’s community, rather than please a foreign dictatorship.
It would make the most sense for Ubisoft to simply create a different build for the game’s affected regions, though it seems they currently have no intention to do so. Blog posts regarding the changes reference a single, global vision for the game’s future, and Ubisoft believes that splitting the game into different versions would make it more difficult for them to implement new changes and hotfixes in the future.
The question now is whether or not Ubisoft will change course, or if fans will simply have to deal with the new changes. Though, the most likely answer is that the negative fan feedback will simply blow over when people find a different issue to be upset about. Until then, Ubisoft will just have to ensure that they continue to give fans fresh new content to enjoy, rather than just making changes to a game that’s been out for years to please China.
Rainbow Six Siege is out now on PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
Source: PC Gamer.
