Rainbow Six Siege cross-play and cross-progression still coming, but not to PC

Ubisoft has not forgotten about cross-play in Rainbow Six Siege, but says the feature will likely be limited to consoles.

Rainbow Six Siege developer Ubisoft seems to address the subject of cross-play and cross-progression every few months, but it's still nowhere to be seen in the live game.

In a recent interview with PC Gamer about the impending launch of the game's sixth year of content, starting with Crimson Heist, the developer was asked about the long-in-development cross-play features.

"We're actively working on cross-progression and cross-play," said game director Jean-Baptiste Halle, before stressing that it's likely going to be limited to consoles when it arrives.

"Within the realm of consoles, I think it would be great if PlayStation and Xbox could play together."

Rainbow Six Siege does, of course, support cross-generation play within the same console family since the tactical shooter officially launched on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S late last year.

The advantages of cross-play are clear and plentiful, particularly - as Jean-Baptiste Halle pointed out, in regions where one console family is more prominent that the other.

Bring PC into it, however, is a different matter, and one where the game director isn't sure how things will go. "I can see the pros, but I can also see the cons," Jean-Baptiste Halle said about the possibility of PC joining consoles in cross-play.

"So, for this one, it's too early for us to communicate."

As PC Gamer noted, Rainbow Six Siege does not have aim assist like most console shooters, which makes the idea of grouping together PC and consoles players in one lobby much more complicated, particularly considering how lethal Siege's combat is compared to those games. That said, there are ways for this to work, such as limiting PC cross-play to the casual playlists, or allowing players to opt into it when they want to play with their friends on other platforms.