Summary:
- Ubisoft shut down Rainbow Six Siege servers for over 24 hours after hackers flooded accounts with billions of free in-game credits.
- Players received 2 billion R6 Credits each, worth an estimated $13 million per account in real-world value.
- Servers are back online, but the Marketplace remains closed indefinitely while they continue the investigations.
Ubisoft had one of its biggest security scares this holiday season when hackers broke into Rainbow Six Siege servers. They gave players billions in free special currency. Rainbow Six Siege was shut down for more than 24 hours as Ubisoft rushed to fix the problem. The timing made the problem even worse, since most players were available to play due to holidays.
Hackers Flood Accounts With R6 Credits
The chaos started when players began sharing screenshots and videos showing their accounts suddenly filled with 2 billion R6 Credits and rare items they never bought. Since R6 Credits are usually only bought with real money, this meant over $13 million per account.
It wasn’t just the money that worried people. Some players saw strange messages in the game instead of normal alerts, with odd questions or song lyrics. Clearly, whoever did this had a lot of control over Rainbow Six Siege’s systems.
Ubisoft’s Emergency Response
Ubisoft quickly acknowledged the issue on Saturday morning, around 9:00 AM ET, noting they were “aware of an incident” and working on a fix. Within two hours, both the game and its Marketplace were completely shut down. The Marketplace, where you and other players trade items, remains offline as Ubisoft investigates the breach.
The game stayed offline until Sunday as Ubisoft worked to restore servers to a stable state. The company said it was running quality control checks to make sure accounts were secure, and that the vulnerability was reportedly patched by 12:30 PM ET.
Servers Return With Some Hiccups
Rainbow Six Siege gradually came back online Sunday evening around 7:30 PM ET. The game was officially operational by 9:30 PM, but many of you likely noticed long queues and delays, with some wait times stretching to 24 hours.
Ubisoft reassured players that no one would be banned for spending the illicitly gained credits during the breach. However, any transactions after 6:00 AM ET on December 27 were rolled back, temporarily affecting items you may have legitimately purchased. The company expects all these issues to resolve over the next two weeks.
Ongoing Investigation and Industry Impact
The Marketplace is still closed as Ubisoft keeps looking into the breach and how hackers got in. The timing could not be worse, since it happened during the holidays when lots of new players join and spending goes up.
While Ubisoft has not officially called this a hack, the evidence makes it seem very likely. The size of this problem shows weaknesses in online gaming systems, adding to other big security problems like the 2011 PlayStation Network outage and the 2022 GTA 6 video leak. For you as a player, it is a reminder to watch your account security, even in big games.
Final Thoughts
Rainbow Six Siege being shut down for a while definitely got a lot of attention in the community. Clearly, this attack is not something to ignore, and Ubisoft’s work to fix it shows players that their security is very important. Make sure to follow their official accounts for updates regarding this issue.
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