Rainbow Six Siege is one of the most popular online tactical shooters of recent times. After initially releasing in 2015, Rainbow Six Siege has continued to gain popularity, guaranteeing its longevity through a live service model that continually adds new features and items to the game. Rainbow Six Siege continues to be one of the big names in the online shooter space, but a new Rainbow Six game is set to be released in 2022 in Extraction, previously known as Quarantine. This is exciting news to fans of Rainbow Six Siege, but they may be wondering whether Extraction will have any impact on Siege’s popularity.

Rainbow Six Extraction is a standalone title in the Rainbow Six series. While it’s based on a Siege event it is completely separate from Siege, and as such, may draw players away from the game. However, Extraction shouldn’t have too much of an impact on the long-term wellbeing of Siege, seeing as the two games belong to different genres. On top of this, it seems as though Rainbow Six Siege will continue to be supported in the aftermath of Extraction, as is evidenced by the recent announcement of the game joining PlayStation Tournaments.

RELATED: Rainbow Six: Extraction's History of Delays Explained

What is Rainbow Six Extraction?

Following the success of Rainbow Six Siege, Ubisoft is going to be releasing an all-new game in the series based on a limited-time Siege event, Outbreak. Rainbow Six Extraction is a spin-off of Rainbow Six Siege, featuring 3-player co-op gameplay. Rainbow Six Extraction will have 13 different mission types to choose from, giving the player plenty of variety in choice. But the feeling of variety doesn’t end there, as key elements of each mission such as enemy placement will be procedurally generated, adding a unique element of challenge and freshness. This could be key to Rainbow Six Extraction's success, as traditional co-op shooters can begin to feel stale if not imbued with an element that keeps the experience feeling new.

Some of the experience of Rainbow Six Extraction will be familiar to Rainbow Six Siege players. This is because Rainbow Six Extraction will not be introducing any new operators, but it will feature 18 operators present in Rainbow Six Siege. Despite this, players will be given a lot of variety in their approach to the game, as they will have the option of choosing between 65 weapons, and 25 gadgets at launch. Players may look to make use of all of these gadgets and weapons over the course of the game as its 12 launch maps are said to be “ever-evolving” and three times larger than maps that can be found in Siege.

Rainbow Six Siege Joining PlayStation Tournaments Open Series

Any Rainbow Six Siege fans concerned that this new Rainbow Six game may spell the end of Siege can breathe a sigh of relief. Rainbow Six Siege has been handed a big vote of confidence by being included in the PlayStation Tournaments Open Series. This series takes place on the PlayStation 4 and offers rewards to players eager to test their skills against global competition. Participants play qualifier matches, in which they can earn rewards such as themes and avatars, before playing for larger prizes in monthly finals. Players will need a team of five to enter, although the competition has already begun.

The participation of Rainbow Six Siege in the PlayStation Tournaments Open Series is a great sign for the game’s future. With a new entry in a series, there always exist concerns that the previous game in the series will be left redundant, or without support. It’s natural that gamers will become preoccupied with the new title in the series, at least temporarily forgetting about older games. But Rainbow Six Siege’s participation in PlayStation Tournaments is a good sign for the game’s continued relevancy, as well as for Siege fan’s hopes that the game will continue to receive support. It’s yet to be seen how Extraction will impact Siege’s active player base, but the PlayStation Tournaments Open Series may bring new players to the game, or re-introduce long-time Siege fans.

Rainbow Six Siege is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

MORE: Rainbow Six Siege: What Ubisoft Can Learn From Other Studios Handling Rage Quitters