Interview: Rainbow Six Mobile game director Olivier Albarracin tells all about the hit tactical shooter's mobile spinoff

• Rainbow Six Mobile has finally left testing and released on mobile
• We got to know more about the new mobile spinoff from game director Olivier Albarracin
• Find out more about what to expect from Rainbow Six Mobile going forward

The Rainbow Six franchise sprang out of the works of techno-thriller author Tom Clancy decades ago. And for years, it was the haunt of either military enthusiasts or those with a passion for tactical shooter gameplay. But Rainbow Six Siege changed all that, and brought the formula to the multiplayer masses.

In the time since, Siege has somewhat slowed in popularity. But Ubisoft’s next big move could change all that with the launch of the long-awaited Rainbow Six Mobile.

So, to find out a little more about it, we got the chance to put our questions to Olivier Albarracin, one of the team members on Rainbow Six Mobile, to find out more about the shooter.

So I think we all know mobile is the biggest gaming platform, and if Rainbow Six wants to exist as a global brand, it needs to be part of that. We also want players to experience that unique gameplay of Siege, and having it part of the mobile is kind of what we're driven to do. 

I would say it's the close-quarter tactical competitive first-person shooter. And that's all about spatial awareness, of course, destruction, the different Operators, their gadgets, and the synergy between them. So, many things, it is a complex game, but that's what makes it unique. What makes the game special from my perspective is that it's much more slow-paced and tactical.

When you watch these eSports teams play against each other, it’s like a symphony, you know, of foresight, anticipation and then execution. That's what makes the game beautiful, and you don't see that in many others. 

One of the biggest things that we offer our players is that we have Operators that are unique in terms of the gameplay, and we are going to be adding a new Operator every month. Rainbow Six Mobile comes with a new season, a new theme, new game modes, and new things to do all the time. We even have these things called Landmark events, which will be every other season.

So maybe that doesn't seem new to some mobile gamers, but I think the Operator is what's interesting in the sense that each comes with a unique gadget, which changes the meta of the game. They have a unique weapon and track where you can unlock attachments and different skins for the operator. And I think that's where the gamers will kind of come in and be happy to kind of grind for. 

So our goal is to provide varying gameplay for the players, and we know that a lot of the Siege Operators already work well. Which doesn't mean we don't want to create our own [Operators], which we’d love to do, and even have a few designs that actually make sense for the mobile touch controls for some. 

But at the same time, we want to see how our players interact with these Operators. And then we see if there's a hole in the meta, because our meta is different from Siege. This allows us an opportunity to be like “You know what, there is an operator that's missing that maybe can help close windows better or something like this.”

So we built the game from scratch specifically for mobile. So with touch controls, of course, looking at all the other competitive shooters, it's super important to have a lot of customisation, a lot of settings, as you know. Everyone has different-sized thumbs, different-sized screens, different types of hardware. 

So we have systems that add more accessibility, that kind of like allow the player to execute actions faster, like auto vaulting and auto sprinting, for example. And it wasn't really to make the game easier. It was really about keeping the skill ceiling still high but making it more accessible to kind of enter and play the game. 

We've been in development since we announced the game in 2020-22, that's when we actually launched our technical test. And even a little bit before that, internally we had like our own tournaments, we still do, within our team, which we hosted like every few months, and we have rivalries between each other. 

And this is when we saw that the game clicked, and we're like, you know what, this works, it's Siege in your hands.

Yeah, we chose to take the time to get it right. And that was really working with our players, seeing the data, understanding what needs to be changed or improved. As you know, soft launches are common in the mobile space. So we were in soft launch, looking at the different regions, understanding the different player bases. And as we saw, the players wanted the game to become more competitive; they wanted it to be more stable. They wanted more content. And those were the things we worked on.

So we wanted to shift the game slowly. If you ever actually see how our launch looked a few years ago, to what it is now, we really like tailored the game to what our players wanted and what they wanted to be playing, you know, for years and years.

I think we don't want to force esports onto our game. What we're looking at doing right now is really improving the foundations of stability, improving the competitiveness, ensuring the security and trust with our players. 

And then we have a very robust roadmap on getting all of these things stronger and stronger each season. And that's one of our pillars, competitive integrity.  We want to make sure that the game is stable on all the hundreds of devices there are, and ensure that there are no disconnections and that the matchmaking is fair. And from there, we're hoping esports will kind of come about organically.

So, Landmark events are kind of big beats throughout the year that we want to celebrate either in world events. One of the examples that we've already launched in Halloween and in the wintertime was a Cursed Carnival and Merry Mayhem. And it came with a map rework and a game mode that's fun and unique. 

And then it comes with a seasonal currency and packs that you get for free, as well as a seasonal shop. So you grind, and you get the fun content that players can kind of enjoy and share. That's kind of the main gist, but there will be, of course, Siege lore events coming up. So it's a mix of in-world and, well, Rainbow Six fantasy stuff. 

Yes, definitely. I think if they enjoy the tactical gameplay of Siege and if they want to just experience it on the go or if they don't have access to their hardware, they're going to feel right at home. And I think they're going to have fun just seeing the different Operators that they love and the different gadgets with the unique weapons that maybe they might not have in Siege.

But we do look at all the data that Siege has, and we kind of make choices to be sure that the balancing, the weapon, and the gadget make sense to the game. So yeah, I think Siege fans will love to kind of hop in, and I would love them to just try it and have some fun. 

I would say just take your time when you come into the game. It's a different game than other shooters. It's really about slow-paced close-quarter combat, and if you do start to get into it, pick a few Operators and try to master their gadgets, provide intel to your teammates, and don't try to rush in and shoot because that's how you're going to end up having a harder time. So, yeah, it's all about taking your time and enjoying.

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Suffice it to say, it sounds as if Rainbow Six Mobile has had plenty of care and attention going into it. So keep an eye out, as we'll be covering those new updates as and when they appear.

And if you do fancy jumping into Rainbow Six Mobile after reading this, be sure to check out some of our guides! Our Rainbow Six Mobile tier list is a great starting point if you want to know which operator to take into battle.