According to engadget, Ubisoft was forced to shut down all Rainbow Six Siege servers across PC, PlayStation, and Xbox on Saturday, December 28, 2025, following a widespread hack. The breach left players with either zero or billions of in-game R6 Credits and placed ultra-rare weapon skins into their accounts, triggering a wave of account bans and unbans. Ubisoft initially acknowledged the “incident” on X and, by Saturday afternoon, clarified they would roll back all transactions starting from 6 AM ET that day and not ban players who spent the fake credits. After a full day of an “unplanned outage,” the company completed extensive testing and restored servers by the evening of Sunday, December 29. The transaction rollback is finished, but the in-game Marketplace remains temporarily closed.
The Marketplace Problem
Here’s the thing: this wasn’t just some random glitch. It was a direct attack on the game’s economy, specifically targeting the relatively new Marketplace feature where players can buy and sell skins. Someone found a way to inject absurd amounts of currency and items directly into accounts. And when you’re dealing with a player-driven market, that’s basically a nuclear option. It completely destroys trust. Why would anyone trade legitimately if they think the system is fundamentally broken? Ubisoft had no choice but to hit the big red “off” switch and rewind time. It was the only way to preserve any semblance of a functional economy.
A Communications Rollercoaster
Look, the technical response was probably correct. But the player communication was a mess. For hours, the community was in chaos, with screenshots circulating of players showing billions in credits or finding their accounts banned. Ubisoft’s initial posts were vague. They later had to specifically assure people they wouldn’t be punished for spending the fake money—a crucial detail that should have been front and center. Saying “timing cannot be guaranteed” is honest, but it leaves a furious playerbase in the dark. For a live service game that’s nearly a decade old, this level of incident communication feels surprisingly amateurish.
What Happens Next?
So the servers are back. Now what? The immediate fix is done, but the long-term damage is real. This event will be cited in every future debate about game security and microtransactions. Can players ever truly trust the Marketplace again? Ubisoft’s next steps are critical. They’ll need to be transparent about what exactly was exploited and how they’ve patched it. They’ll probably offer some kind of compensation, like a booster pack or credit bundle, to smooth things over. But I think the bigger question is about trajectory. Rainbow Six Siege is a titan in the tactical shooter space, but fumbles like this chip away at its foundation. In a world where competitors are always lurking, you can’t afford to have your entire economy compromised in a weekend. Basically, they got lucky this time. The rollback worked. But they might not get a second chance.
