The new Rainbow Six Outbreak Packs seem to have courted controversy from the fanbase. Sure, Rainbow Six: Siege has a loyal fanbase, but even their faith has been tested by this new move. Yesterday, Rainbow Six announced on Twitter that they would give players the chance to unlock the 50 uniques from the Outbreak packs for a limited time. This will be available until July 13th. A LTE for just real money without an LTE mode to go with it? Some fans are not best pleased by that.

The interesting thing is that these Outbreak Packs for Rainbow Six are being offered on their own. There’s nothing there to hype up, nothing to be excited about. If this would have been offered when Extraction drops later in the year, that might have been a better move. Then Ubisoft could have put some of these cosmetics in bundles to pre-purchase, thus creating hype. One person, in particular, seemed disgusted. Pengu, now retired pro player had this to say:

“Wait, so the old skins are out that you can buy for real life currency, but with no game-mode alongside it? so old content is losing value due to how “rare” the skins were, PLUS it’s just a money grab? should give people the packs when they buy extraction or something”

Pengu suggested re-releasing Outbreak so players could at least experience it again (and give newcomers a chance to see it). Conversely, they could offer the skins as an offer for pre-ordering Extraction, which, according to Pengu is “overpriced as it has a AAA game price, but not AAA content or value.” That would perhaps make it worthwhile. 

A Youtube content creator for TSM FTX, Macie Jay had this to say:

“I am by no means a marketing expert but I think you guys should’ve waited until the launch of Extraction to rerelease these packs and even include a few with a purchase. Rereleasing these packs for seemingly no reason has clearly rubbed the community the wrong way.”

It just seems like a really strange decision to make on Ubisoft’s part, especially the pricing. For what essentially boils down to 100 dollars for 50 cosmetics. That sounds outrageous. When you also consider that these bright-yellow skins feel like Pay-to-Lose if you ask me. This is very much a FOMO Business Strategy. Not new in esports or in online gaming, but it feels incredibly predatory. If Ubisoft makes a statement about these Outbreak Packs for Rainbow Six, we will keep you up to date on it.