Ubisoft withdraws Rainbow Six Siege price hike

Update: Ubisoft has withdrawn the $20 price hike for for the Standard Edition of Rainbow Six Siege, just a few days after it announced its plans.

According to a post on Reddit, Ubisoft explained that the change was due to the “the frustration from our current players”, stressing that the opinions of “Day 1” players were the biggest concern.

“For our newcomers and those of you concerned about introducing your friends to the game, we will be keeping the Standard Edition in the store at the current price,” the company said.

However, while the Standard Edition will remain at $40, the game's other editions will keep their higher price-points: the Gold Edition will cost $90, a $20 increase, and the price of the Complete Edition will increase by $40 to $130.

Original Story: Ubisoft has announced that it is raising the retail price of Rainbow Six Siege by $20 as of February 13.

A price hike for a two-year-old game may seem counter-intuitive, but with over 25 million users and a raft of forthcoming DLC, Siege is among the most refined examples of a AAA publishers making the games-as-a-service model work effectively and with minimal consumer backlash.

The current Standard Edition, which is typically priced at $40, is to be replaced by the new Advanced Edition and will retail at $60. However, the new version of the game will feature additional content such as cosmetic items and in-game currency.

"The Advanced Edition comes with all of the content that the Standard Edition had - access to all Rainbow Six Siege content: modes, maps, weapon options, level progression and the standard amount of time required to unlock the original 20 Operators," reads Ubisoft's blog post.

As a result, the Gold edition of the game, which includes the most recent DLC, will cost $90, rather than $70. Similarly, the Complete Edition of the game will retail for $130.

Additional reporting by Matthew Handrahan.