Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six
| Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six | |
|---|---|
| Genre(s) | Tactical shooter First-person shooter |
| Developer(s) | Red Storm Entertainment Ubisoft Montreal Ubisoft Shanghai Ubisoft Quebec |
| Publisher(s) | Ubisoft |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows, Nintendo 64, PlayStation, Classic Mac OS, Game Boy Color, Dreamcast, Game Boy Advance, Xbox, PlayStation 2, GameCube, macOS, Mobile phone, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Xbox 360, iOS, Xperia Play, Android, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S |
| First release | Rainbow Six August 21, 1998 |
| Latest release | Rainbow Six: SMOL February 20, 2024 |
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six (often shortened to Rainbow Six or R6) is a tactical shooter video game series by Red Storm Entertainment and Ubisoft, marketed under the Tom Clancy's banner of military-themed video games. Based on the novel Rainbow Six by American author Tom Clancy, it revolves around a fictional international counterterrorist organization called "Rainbow". Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six started in 1998 and as of 2024 consists of 13 entries with 6 expansion pack from early installments.
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six is one of the most popular and most influential tactical shooter series, and early installments in the series helped propel the tactical shooter genre into the mainstream. Since the mid-2010s, a significant esports scene has formed around newer Rainbow Six games.
Setting
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six follows a secret international counterterrorist organization called "Rainbow" (or "Team Rainbow"; capitalization varies between "Rainbow" and "RAINBOW"). The series is set in the canon Tom Clancy's universe, which is mostly shared with Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell and Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon.
Formed in 1999 by the world's military, law enforcement, and intelligence agencies to combat the post-Cold War global rise in terrorism, Rainbow is a black operation consisting of "operators" from nations and organizations worldwide, ranging from special operations personnel and police tactical unit members to intelligence officers and field experts, trained and equipped to be the most capable counterterrorist professionals in the world, able to handle any terrorist attack, hostage rescue, or takedown that local authorities cannot conduct in an effective, reliable, or timely manner. Rainbow is headquartered in Hereford, England, but has global jurisdiction and can base themselves at any intelligence agency's headquarters (such as Langley, Virginia) should their continued presence in a region be necessary.
Due to the sensitive nature of their operations, such as being deployed in multinational incidents or against threats possessing weapons of mass destruction, and to simply prevent terrorists from knowing of their existence, Rainbow operates in absolute secrecy with complete plausible deniability, with only the most top-ranking government, military, and intelligence officials knowing they even exist. Cover-ups are often conducted after Rainbow's deployments to disguise operators as local police or military units, omit details that could alarm the public, or prevent the reporting of certain deployments.
The leader of Rainbow is designated "Rainbow Six" (or just "Six"), a reference to the American rank code for captain (O-6).[1] The first Six was former U.S. Navy SEAL and CIA operations officer John Clark, who led the organization from its founding until his retirement.[a] Since then, numerous individuals have taken the role of Six, the most recent being Harry Pandey.[b]
Though the Rainbow Six universe is generally grounded in reality and maintains its basic premise, recent installments and plot events partially depart from the series' established setting or Rainbow's traditional policies, with Rainbow hosting a publicly visible tactical competition,[b] recruiting non-government or independent operators such as private military company "Nighthaven",[b] and being deployed to defeat invading extraterrestrials.[c]
Video games
The first game was developed by Red Storm Entertainment, while the novel was being written.[2] Red Storm was acquired in 2000 by Ubisoft, which has continued to manage the series ever since.[3]
List of games
| Title | PC versions | Console versions |
Handheld console and mobile | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rainbow Six | Windows (1998); Mac OS (1999) | N64, PS1 (1999); DC (2000) | GBC (2000) | |
| Rainbow Six: Eagle Watch | Windows (1999) | N64 (1999); DC (2000) | — | Expansion pack |
| Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear | Windows (1999); macOS (2001) | DC (2000); PS1 (2001) | GBA (2002) | |
| Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear – Urban Operations | Windows (2000) | DC (2000) | — | Expansion pack |
| Rainbow Six: Covert Ops Essentials | Windows (2000) | — | — | Expansion pack (stand-alone) |
| Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear – Black Thorn | Windows (2001) | — | — | Expansion pack (stand-alone) |
| Rainbow Six: Take-Down – Missions in Korea | Windows (2001) | — | — | Not released outside of South Korea (stand-alone) |
| Rainbow Six: Lone Wolf | — | PS1 (2002) | — | |
| Rainbow Six 3: Raven Shield | Windows, macOS (2003) | Xbox (2003); PS2, GameCube (2004) | Mobile phone (2004) | |
| Rainbow Six 3: Athena Sword | Windows, macOS (2004) | — | — | Expansion pack |
| Rainbow Six 3: Black Arrow | — | Xbox (2004) | — | |
| Rainbow Six 3: Iron Wrath | Windows (2005) | — | — | Expansion pack (DLC) |
| Rainbow Six: Broken Wings | — | — | Mobile phone (2003) | |
| Rainbow Six: Urban Crisis | — | — | Mobile phone (2003) | |
| Rainbow Six: Lockdown | Windows (2006) | PS2, Xbox, GameCube (2005) | Mobile phone (2005) | |
| Rainbow Six: Critical Hour | — | Xbox (2006) | — | |
| Rainbow Six: Vegas | Windows (2006) | Xbox 360 (2006); PS3 (2007) | Mobile phone (2006); PSP (2007) | |
| Rainbow Six: Vegas 2 | Windows (2008) | PS3, Xbox 360 (2008) | — | |
| Rainbow Six: Shadow Vanguard | — | — | iOS, Xperia Play (2011); Android (2012) | Based on the original game |
| Rainbow Six Siege[4] | Windows (2015) | PS4, Xbox One (2015); PS5, Xbox Series X/S (2020) | — | Online-only reboot |
| Rainbow Six Extraction[5] | Windows (2022) | PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S | — | Spin off of, based on the limited time mode “Outbreak” from Rainbow Six Siege |
| Rainbow Six: SMOL | — | — | iOS, Android (2024)[6] | Requires a Netflix account. No longer available.[7] |
| Rainbow Six Mobile[8] | — | — | iOS, Android (2025)[9] |
Notes
- ^ As depicted in Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Critical Hour.
- ^ a b c As depicted in Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege and its later updates.
- ^ As depicted in Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Extraction, which is considered non-canon.
References
- ^ Tucker, Jake (4 December 2015). "The agony and ecstasy behind the first Rainbow Six". Eurogamer.net. Retrieved 17 June 2022.
- ^ Upton, Brian (21 January 2000). "Postmortem: Redstorm's Rainbow Six". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on 4 August 2001. Retrieved 6 August 2007.
- ^ "Life at Red Storm". Red Storm Entertainment. Retrieved 30 October 2022.
- ^ "Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege | Ubisoft (US)". www.ubisoft.com. Retrieved 3 November 2022.
- ^ "Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Extraction | Ubisoft (US)". www.ubisoft.com. Retrieved 3 November 2022.
- ^ Kaser, Rachel (20 February 2024). "Ubisoft launches Rainbow Six Smol, a roguelite exclusive to Netflix". VentureBeat. Retrieved 14 September 2024.
- ^ "Netflix To Remove Over 20 Mobile Games Including Monument Valley Trilogy and Hades". What's on Netflix. 23 June 2025. Retrieved 7 July 2025.
- ^ "Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Mobile | Ubisoft (US)". www.ubisoft.com. Retrieved 3 November 2022.
- ^ Holt, Kris (18 July 2024). "Ubisoft delays its Rainbow Six and Division mobile games until at least April 2025". Engadget. Retrieved 21 July 2024.