Last week Ubisoft announced that some changes were coming to Rainbow Six: Siege. In a devblog the studio confirmed that they were making some cosmetic changes to the game in order to bring all versions together to make one unified global client.
The reason behind the move is the game's expansion into Asia, where certain countries have more draconian laws when it comes what you can and can't depict in games. Ubisoft's plan, therefore, is to avoid having to duplicate work across different versions of the game. See the images directly below to get a sense of what's changing, then keep reading to find out how it all went wrong.
Following the announcement of the proposed changes, there seems to have been a rather vociferous reaction from certain quarters. The most prominent examples include the game's Steam page, where thousands of recent reviews are negative, bringing the overall average down to "mixed".
Review bombing, as this practice is called, is becoming an increasingly prominent way for fans to make themselves heard when something they don't like happens to a live/ongoing game, and Ubisoft is merely the latest in a long line of companies to have experienced it. The reactions from fans on Valve's platform are very negative, with people bemoaning the fact that they're being subjected to Ubisoft's self-censorship. It's a sentiment that extends over to Reddit where even a cursory examination of the feed reveals discontent amongst the community.
Fans concerned about core gameplay changes needn't worry, however. While cosmetic changes are coming to one and all, and gameplay alterations will be limited to a region-locked version of the game, something that Ubisoft didn't make particularly clear when they made the initial announcement.
"We have a commitment to ensure that the Rainbow Six Siege experience remains true to its roots," the studio originally wrote. "We are adjusting art and visuals, but are not compromising what makes Rainbow Six Siege the game you know today."