Season two of the second year of Rainbow Six Siege was originally supposed to be set in Hong Kong, with a new map and a pair of new operators—basically what we've seen in previous seasons, most recently with Velvet Shell. But today, Ubisoft announced that the plan has changed, season two is being dropped, and that the studio will instead be focused solely on improving the game's "health."
"Operation Health is all about fixing several issues and investing in better technology to make sure we keep growing strong in the upcoming years," Ubisoft said. To accomplish that, developers will forgo the usual seasonal content and instead spend the next three months focusing on three "pillars" for the future: Technological improvements, a new deployment process, and "bug fix sprints."
Naturally, eliminating the planned second season is going to put the squeeze on the balance of Year Two, and as is historically appropriate, it's Poland that's going to suffer for it. "Hong Kong will be released in August as part of Season Three and South Korea in November during Season Four," Ubisoft said. "While Poland no longer has a dedicated season, our GROM Operators will be released at the start of Season Three and Four."
The number of new maps scheduled for Year Two has also been reduced from four to three, including the one already released for Spain; the map planned for Poland has been canceled. There will also not be a mid-season reinforcement during Operation Health, although Ubi said in a Q&A that it will be returned for season three.
And, because it's bound to come up, Ubi also made clear that there won't be any compensation for Year Two pass holders, because they're not actually losing out on anything. "The Year Two Pass provides players with early access to eight new Operators. While we will not have two new Operators every three months this year, we will still deliver on your early access to the remaining Operators. You will receive the content and early access benefits you have paid for," it wrote. "Year Two Pass holders will also still receive any cosmetic items associated with the Polish Operators."
The updated Year Two roadmap is below.
