Could Xbox Game Pass be Rainbow Six Extraction's saving grace?

Rainbow Six Extraction made a major announcement earlier today which has raised several eyebrows in the gaming community.

In an official tweet, Ubisoft has informed players that Rainbow Six Extraction will be available at no additional cost on the day of its launch to anyone who owns an Xbox Game Pass.

For a lot of games, this will not be a major decision and for others it will result in excitement and fanfare. But for Rainbow Six Extraction, it's a chance at redemption.

Rarely has a game faced so much flak at reveal gameplay as has Rainbow Six Extraction. But with the decision to go on the Xbox Game Pass, Ubisoft may have taken a bold, but fruitful decision.

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How Rainbow Six Extraction developed since a mere concept and what resulted in its poor reception

There were a few delays due to miscellaneous reasons but finally came the E3 2021 reveal. Ubisoft even rebranded the game and it was now named 'Rainbow Six Extraction'.

It was expected that fans would be delighted, but the reality couldn't have been any more different. It all started with a teaser in 2019 about the concept of an upcoming game. The game would be based on the fan-favorite Outbreak mode of Rainbow Six Siege. It was titled 'Rainbow Six Quarantine' and fans were really pleased at the announcement.

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What works in one doesn't work in another

Rainbow Six Siege's Outbreak was a great mode and for the first time, players could fight a common enemy. Everything from the backdrop of the event to the alien enemies won over fans.

The fact that Outbreak was completely free was a bonus of sorts. In fact, the Year 3 Season 3 event had fans hoping that there would be a sequel to the event in the years to come (which didn't happen).

But the successful Outbreak mode was the main decision maker for Ubisoft's creation of Rainbow Six Extraction. After all, Rainbow Six Extraction is a grand upscaling of the same mode that fans have loved.

One can't blame Ubisoft for anticipating a positive reaction from fans for it being based on their beloved mode. But one thing Ubisoft failed to understand was the simple fact that fans wanted something more. Judging by the reactions of E3 2021, fans wanted a lot more.

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Fans wanted a new game to be like a new game

Rainbow Six Extraction claims to be a standalone game. But based on the fan reaction and reveal footage, it can't be claimed as such. While there had been definite work done to expand and make a new game, the content didn't win over many fans.

In the reveal footage, there were neither enough maps nor enough operators.This was despite the lofty promises that Ubisoft had made in their teaser in 2019.

This leads to the second and main issue with Rainbow Six Extraction. Reusing the assets of one game into another of the same company is neither new, nor unheard of. But it requires the creation of something that feels new and not like a repetition of a past event. What infuriated fans even more was the reported price tag that was put on the game.

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Rainbow Six Extraction was originally priced at $60

Many fans felt that the price of Rainbow Six Extraction was atrocious. It looks even more shocking when one compares it with the price of the different editions of Rainbow Six Siege.

While inflation is a natural phenomenon, Rainbow Six Siege has a lot more game modes, maps, operators and both PVP and PVE.

That was never the case with Rainbow Six Extraction if the E3 footage was anything to go by, there was hardly anything worthy of a $60 price, and that was the point many gamers raised.

If anything, many Rainbow Six content creators back then were of the opinion that Rainbow Six Extraction feels like a chore rather than a fun game.

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Why Rainbow Six Extraction's entry to the Xbox Game Pass can redeem it

It can now be claimed that the fans were not wrong as Ubisoft made revisions to the price and available content when the game became available for pre-order.

A $20 reduction seems to be more on point but many fans still complained that $40 was not a justifiable price. After all, promises have been made and broken in the gaming industry, and to invest so much in supposedly so little content is nothing but a gamble.

But with the game now coming to the Xbox Game Pass, fans can access Rainbow Six Extraction for no marginal price. The only resources they will be truly spending are time and gigabytes of data. Neither seems atrocious, unlike the price tag Rainbow Six Extraction originally had.

Not only has Ubisoft addressed the issue of exorbitant pricing, but this can bring in a lot of players who would have skipped Rainbow Six Extraction altogether. Ubisoft's decision may have been made in desperation, but for the time being, it looks like the correct one as far as Rainbow Six Siege is concerned.