A recent leak indicated that Ubisoft’s upcoming tactical shooter Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Quarantine was set for a March 2021 release. However, the highly anticipated game is still quite a way off, according to Ubisoft.

Fans recently discovered a page on Ubisoft Connect listing March 21 as Rainbow Six Quarantine's release date. Unfortunately for fans, this appears to have been a mistake.

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Ubisoft announced the upcoming co-op game in 2019 and planned for an early 2020 release date. Unfortunately, Ubisoft delayed the game repeatedly, pushing it back to late 2021 at the earliest. Many fans were excited when it appeared that Rainbow Six Quarantine would be released ahead of schedule. However, a Ubisoft representative told IGN that the date shown on Ubisoft Connect is not accurate. The company expects to release Rainbow Six Quarantine sometime in the 2021-2022 fiscal year. This could mean any time between this April and March of next year.

Showcased during E3 2019, it's been a long time since Ubisoft's last major update on the game's progress. Quarantine spins off from the Outbreak event for Rainbow Six Siege. As with Outbreak, players will join three-person squads as they fight to stop the spread of an alien pathogen. What sets Outbreak apart from other zombie modes is Rainbow Six Siege’s emphasis on teamwork, precision shooting, and taking advantage of destructible environments.

Outbreak took place in the small resort town of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, after a Soviet probe crashes nearby, releasing an extraterrestrial virus. The mode proved extremely popular, prompting Ubisoft to begin work on a full game spinoff. Rainbow Six Quarantine likely takes place during the same epidemic. It will feature squad-based co-op gameplay similar to Siege. Based on the E3 trailer, it will also feature many of the same playable operators. Ubisoft plans to release the game on previous generation consoles first, but the publisher has given few other details. The lack of information has some people understandably worried about Rainbow Six Quarantine.

Ubisoft already delayed Rainbow Six Quarantine twice, first in 2019 and again in 2020. Ironically, given the subject matter, the second delay resulted from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. This was hardly surprising given the large number of games delayed due to Coronavirus. Among the list 0f delayed titles is another upcoming Ubisoft title, Far Cry 6. According to an October 2020 Ubisoft earnings call, both games would likely have been finished on time if not for COVID related delays.

Ubisoft could delay the game further due to the optics of releasing a game called Quarantine in the middle of a pandemic. That said, some players may find battling a virus cathartic. The mobile game Plague Inc. saw a massive spike in players during the pandemic, so as cynical as it sounds, this may be the perfect time for a new zombie FPS.

Rainbow Six Quarantine is in development for PC, PS4, and Xbox One with a PS5 and Xbox Series X/S release to come later.

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Source: IGN