Ubisoft+ Announced For Xbox, Rainbow Six Extraction Confirmed For Game Pass
Ubisoft made two major announcements today. The first is that the company's subscription service, Ubisoft+, will be coming to Xbox consoles in the future. While that's big enough news on its own, Ubisoft also revealed that Rainbow Six Extraction will be coming to Xbox Game Pass, which is another big win for Microsoft's own subscription service. Ubisoft, it seems, has gaming subscriptions on the mind today.
For now, we don't know a whole lot about the plan to bring Ubisoft+ to Xbox consoles. Ubisoft was pretty vague about its plans, saying simply that the service will debut on Xbox "in the future." As a result, we don't know if Ubisoft+ will be available on Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S or just the latter platforms. However, it's reasonable to assume it'll be both, given that many of the games available through Ubisoft+ were made for the Xbox One.
Ubisoft+ was revealed at E3 2019 as UPlay+, and it initially launched on PC later that year. Up until now, Ubisoft+ has been confined to PC, but it did launch on Stadia and Amazon Luna in 2020. Ubisoft+ runs $14.99 a month and grants access to much of Ubisoft's library, including new games, premium editions, and DLC.
Ubisoft+ isn't the first subscription service to make its way to Xbox consoles. Obviously, we have Xbox Game Pass, but Xbox consoles also host EA Play, which is available both through Xbox Game Pass and as a standalone subscription. There was no indication today that Ubisoft+ would be available through Xbox Game Pass as well, and since it costs $14.99 per month, we probably shouldn't expect it to be rolled into Microsoft's service.
Speaking of Xbox Game Pass, Ubisoft also announced today that Rainbow Six Extraction will be a day-one release for the service. Rainbow Six Extraction is an upcoming multiplayer PvE game that features 18 Operators from previous Rainbow Six titles. You can see some of the Operators that will be available in Rainbow Six Extraction in the video above.
Rainbow Six Extraction will be joining the popular Rainbow Six Siege on Xbox Game Pass, which is currently available for console subscribers. Ubisoft also announced today that when Extraction goes live on Xbox Game Pass on January 20th, Rainbow Six Siege will also join the PC version and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.
Netting Rainbow Six Extraction as a day one release is likely a big win for Microsoft because of the franchise's popularity, but it could also be a big deal for Ubisoft. The reaction to Rainbow Six Extraction has been somewhat cool, so by launching on Xbox Game Pass on day one, Ubisoft could very well pull in a much larger audience than it would have with a traditional release.
One question we're left with after today's news is whether or not Ubisoft+ will also come to PlayStation 5 and PS4 in the future. While Ubisoft didn't announce any plans today, it seems like a no-brainer if Ubisoft is bringing the service to Xbox anyway. We'll see what Ubisoft announces in the future, but for now, look for Rainbow Six Extraction to land on Xbox Game Pass on January 20th.