Rainbow Six Quarantine's title may be overdue a rethink

Ubisoft is confident Rainbow Six Quarantine will still release this year, but admits that now may be a bad time to launch something called "Quarantine".

In yesterday's financial results call (via VGC), the publisher reassured investors that the long-elusive Rainbow Six Siege spin-off was still set for release before Ubisoft's financial year ends on September 31st. This comes following delays to both Quarantine and Far Cry 6, attributed to the struggles of adjusting to life under Covid-19.

Granted, there also seems to be some hesitation around the idea of releasing a game called Quarantine at a time where a viral pandemic is ravaging the planet. When asked whether the contentious name may cause the game to be delayed again, CEO Yves Guillemot replied: "It is something we are evaluating and we will see what comes in the future on that product."

Officially announced back in 2019, Quarantine is pitched as a 3-player co-op shooter pitting Team Rainbow against the alien zombies first featured in Siege's temporary Outbreak mode. While it was set for release in early-2020, the game has been delayed several times, with very little new information since that initial reveal.

During the call, Ubisoft noted that Rainbow Six Siege itself passed a 70 million players milestone, with 12 million arriving in the last 12 months. The game is also stepping up its anti-cheat tactics after banning 91,000 accounts during 2020.

20 years ago, Nat played Jet Set Radio Future for the first time, and she's not stopped thinking about games since. Joining PC Gamer in 2020, she comes from three years of freelance reporting at Rock Paper Shotgun, Waypoint, VG247 and more. Embedded in the European indie scene and a part-time game developer herself, Nat is always looking for a new curiosity to scream about—whether it's the next best indie darling, or simply someone modding a Scotmid into Black Mesa. She also unofficially appears in Apex Legends under the pseudonym Horizon.