When Grand Theft Auto VI arrives on November 19, 2026, Ubisoft expects even its most established multiplayer games to feel the impact. Rainbow Six Siege creative director Joshua Mills believes GTA 6 will temporarily pull players away from the tactical shooter, but his response is not to postpone updates or wait for Rockstar’s launch excitement to fade.
Instead, Ubisoft plans to release Siege’s Season 4 around the same period, complete with surprises that have not yet been announced. Mills wants the team to concentrate on the players who remain active, even when another major release dominates the conversation. After a difficult year involving a technical overhaul, a security breach and significant personnel changes, that approach is also part of a wider effort to rebuild trust.
Rainbow Six Siege expects GTA 6 to disrupt its player numbers
Few games can expect to escape the attention surrounding Grand Theft Auto VI. Although Rockstar’s open-world adventure and Ubisoft’s competitive shooter offer very different experiences, both compete for something limited: players’ free time.
In an interview with The Game Business, Mills acknowledged that a launch of GTA 6’s size would affect games across the industry. His expectation is straightforward: some Siege players will temporarily leave to experience Rockstar’s new release, and many may eventually return.
He also admitted that members of Ubisoft’s own team will be playing GTA 6. Rather than treating that reality as a failure, Mills wants developers and company leadership to understand that temporary fluctuations are a normal part of the live-service market.
That distinction matters because a sudden drop in activity can create anxiety within a development studio. If the team interprets every decline as evidence of a deeper problem, it may feel pressure to make unnecessary changes. Mills argues that realistic expectations help everyone maintain perspective.
There is already evidence of the challenge. According to Ampere data cited by The Game Business, Rainbow Six Siege has lost millions of players to major releases including Battlefield 6, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 and Arc Raiders. However, the report does not establish how many players GTA 6 will attract away from Siege.
The November timing also extends beyond multiplayer competition. Rockstar’s arrival is influencing activity around its older games, including the GTA IV Steam sale ahead of GTA 6’s launch. For Siege, however, the concern is not purchasing another title. It is how players divide their gaming time once the new release becomes available.
Rainbow Six Siege Season 4 will reward loyalty instead of waiting
Ubisoft’s response is to keep its seasonal plans moving. Mills confirmed that Rainbow Six Siege Season 4 is scheduled to arrive around the GTA 6 launch window, with additional surprises being held back for a future reveal.
He has not disclosed what those surprises involve. There is also no confirmed exact release date for Season 4 in the interview, so players should not assume that the update launches on November 19 itself.
The more revealing part of Mills’ strategy is his attitude toward the people who continue playing. His guiding principle is to “serve the players who stay like kings and queens”. In other words, the studio does not intend to reduce its efforts simply because another game is attracting attention.
For a competitive live-service title, that approach has practical value. A smaller but engaged community still needs reliable updates, fair matches and reasons to return regularly. Neglecting those players during a crowded release period could create a longer-lasting problem than the temporary competition itself.
The key points of Ubisoft’s strategy for the GTA 6 launch
These are the main elements of Ubisoft’s strategy as GTA 6 approaches:
- Expect a temporary decline: Mills believes GTA 6 will draw attention away from Siege and other games, regardless of genre.
- Keep expectations realistic: The development team and Ubisoft leadership should understand that short-term changes in player activity do not necessarily indicate permanent losses.
- Continue the seasonal schedule: Season 4 is planned for approximately the same period as GTA 6’s November 19 launch.
- Prepare additional announcements: Ubisoft has held back some Season 4 surprises, although their contents remain undisclosed.
- Prioritize active players: The team wants to reward the community members who continue spending their time with Siege.
- Avoid retreating from competition: Mills does not believe a rival’s major launch should become an excuse to reduce support.
- Focus on long-term engagement: The objective is to maintain player confidence while allowing for the possibility that people will return after trying other games.
Importantly, the promise to reward loyal players does not confirm any specific items, bonuses, events or giveaways. Those details have not been announced.
What is clear is that Mills sees the GTA 6 launch as a challenge to manage rather than a reason to abandon the game’s existing audience.
Siege X and a major security breach tested Ubisoft’s new team
The approaching competition arrives after an unusually demanding period for Rainbow Six Siege. Mills became creative director in 2026, succeeding Alexander Karpazis, and inherited a project that had recently undergone one of its most ambitious technical transformations.
Siege X required developers to modernize important parts of the game while continuing to operate the existing live service. That meant rebuilding systems, including audio and lighting, without stopping the regular work of maintaining a competitive multiplayer title.
The technical challenge came with a human cost. After the update launched, the development team needed time to recover. That pause contributed to a slowdown in seasonal content, which did not match the expectations of players who had just seen major improvements to the game.
Mills acknowledged that the resulting lull damaged community confidence. Meanwhile, many developers who had spent seven years or more working on Siege chose to move on after the milestone, forcing the remaining team to adjust to significant personnel changes.
Rainbow Six Siege was forced offline by a hacker group in December 2025
Then came a serious security incident. In December 2025, a hacker group forced Ubisoft to take Siege offline. Thousands of accounts were banned and unbanned, while players received large amounts of in-game currency as part of the disruption.
Although Mills joked about already being bald before the incident, he described the experience as formative for the new core team. The developers had been “baptized in the fire” and emerged with greater confidence in their ability to handle unexpected problems.
The major challenges and structural changes of the past year include:
- Siege X’s technical overhaul: Ubisoft rebuilt foundational systems, including audio and lighting, while continuing to support the live game.
- Developer exhaustion: The demanding update left the team needing recovery time after launch.
- A seasonal content lull: The slowdown following Siege X disappointed players and left Ubisoft with community trust to rebuild.
- Significant team turnover: Numerous experienced developers, including people who had worked on Siege for at least seven years, moved to other opportunities.
- The December 2025 hack: A security breach forced the game offline and disrupted accounts and in-game currency balances.
- New leadership: Joshua Mills took over from Alexander Karpazis as creative director in 2026.
- The move to Vantage Studios: Siege became part of Ubisoft’s new division, giving its leadership a more direct connection to company decision-makers.
- Continued security pressure: The team remains prepared to respond to emerging cheat providers and other threats to competitive play.
Security is particularly important for games that depend on fair competition. Another multiplayer shooter facing similar concerns is WARDOGS, which is strengthening its anti-cheat systems for Season 3. Although the two games have different structures, both illustrate how maintaining player trust requires work beyond introducing new content.
Vantage Studios gives the team a more direct route to Ubisoft leadership
Rainbow Six Siege’s organizational structure has also changed. Since 2025, the game has been part of Vantage Studios, the Ubisoft division led by Charlie Guillemot and Christophe Derennes.
Tencent holds a 26% stake in the division following a €1.16 billion investment. However, Mills’ main point about the new arrangement concerns communication rather than ownership.
According to the creative director, the team now has a more direct line to company headquarters, with fewer management layers between the developers and decision-makers. He considers that especially useful when urgent problems require coordination or resources.
The December security incident offered an early test of those relationships. Mills described working directly with Charlie Guillemot and others to understand the situation and organize a response.
Ubisoft is also collaborating with Tencent on Siege China. Mills believes the partnership provides regional knowledge that the existing development team would not otherwise possess.
These changes do not guarantee that future updates will be free of difficulties. Nevertheless, they help explain why Mills believes the team is better positioned to respond quickly when unexpected problems arise.
Ubisoft believes Siege can evolve without becoming Siege 2
As Rainbow Six Siege approaches its eleventh anniversary, Mills is also considering a different challenge: keeping the shooter relevant without losing the tactical identity that made it successful.
Its audience has become younger and increasingly skilled at fast mechanical play. That creates tension between players who favor quick reactions and aggressive movement and those who value positioning, gadgets and careful planning.
Mills believes Siege must remain a methodical experience. He describes its fundamental identity as “chess at its core”, emphasizing strategy rather than unrestricted speed.
Ubisoft has previously slowed aim-down-sights times because some players were moving and peeking so quickly that their actions created netcode problems. The adjustment illustrates how competitive balance can require developers to resist trends toward faster gameplay.
Professional esports players also help test upcoming updates. According to Mills, these specialists frequently evaluate content two or three operators ahead of the public release calendar, giving Ubisoft an opportunity to identify balance problems before new characters become widely available.
Mills sees no need for a full Rainbow Six Siege sequel
Despite the game’s age, Mills does not believe a full sequel is necessary. Siege’s technology is modular, and Siege X already modernized important foundations. Rebuilding the entire title as Siege 2 would require enormous resources and create the difficult problem of maintaining the existing game while developing its replacement.
That philosophy connects directly to the team’s approach to GTA 6. Rather than chasing every trend or starting again with a new product, Ubisoft wants to keep improving the game that its community already plays.
Rainbow Six Siege Season 4 is expected around GTA 6’s November 19 launch, but its exact date and promised surprises remain unannounced. Mills knows some players will leave temporarily. His bigger concern is making sure those who stay have a reason to remain confident in Siege’s future.
Creator of the website, Pokemon trainer by nature. Trying to report on everything related to the world of video games, series and movies. Yu-Gi-Oh is my weakness, collecting cards since the dawn of time.
