Rainbow Six Siege creative director departs for 'other opportunities' at Ubisoft

For the third time in its six year run, Rainbow Six Siege has a new creative director. Leroy Athanassoff, who took the creative director title after Xavier Marquis left the game in 2020, is moving on after two years. In his place comes art director Alex Karpazis, who started on the Siege team in 2017.

In a statement released today on Ubi's blog, Athanassoff said he's leaving the Siege team to "pursue other opportunities" within Ubisoft. "This isn’t a decision I make lightly—I love this game and this community, and I’m so proud of everything our team has accomplished together over the last two years—but I’m confident that it’s the right one, and the team has given me their full support," Athanassoff said. "Don’t worry, I won’t be going too far, and I have a feeling that my journey with this incredible game is far from over."

Athanassoff didn't allude to the nature of his next project, and it'd be hard to guess exactly what it is. As a designer, he aided on a wide range of Ubi games of the past 15 years including For Honor, Ghost Recon Future Soldier, and Red Steel 2.

In his own statement, incoming director Karpazis praises Athanassoff's leadership and expresses hope for the future of Siege. "Leroy’s hard work will be visible in future seasons as the team and I prepare for one of the most ambitious years in Siege’s history," he said. "I’m extremely humbled by the team’s trust in me, and I hope to earn the trust of the community in my new role as well."

The leadership changeup happens as Siege is about to enter its seventh year of post-release content. If updates follow the same schedule as they usually do, we should expect the announcement of a new operator (and maybe even a new map) during the Six Invitational in February.