Ubisoft shuts down Rainbow Six Siege servers as hackers distribute in-game currency worth Rs 110 Crore

Gaming giant Ubisoft has been forced to shut down the servers for its popular tactical shooter, Rainbow Six Siege, following a severe security breach. The hack, which came to light over the weekend, caused widespread chaos as attackers gained control over the game's internal systems, impacting millions of players worldwide, including a significant community in India.

The incident began on Saturday when players began reporting bizarre activity on their accounts. Hackers reportedly managed to manipulate the game’s backend, granting every logged-in player approximately 2 billion R6 Credits, which is a premium in-game currency usually purchased with real money. To put this in perspective, the sheer volume of currency distributed for free is estimated to be worth over $13 million (Approximately Rs 110 Crore).

Beyond the financial manipulation, the attackers took over the game’s moderation tools as well. They began issuing fake ban messages, unbanning previously restricted accounts, and unlocking ultra-rare cosmetic items and developer-only skins. In some instances, the hackers even used the in-game "ban ticker" to broadcast custom messages, taunting the developers.

In response, Ubisoft took the unprecedented step of taking all servers offline across PC, PlayStation, and Xbox platforms. The in-game marketplace was also suspended to prevent further exploitation of the economy. In a statement on social media, the Rainbow Six Siege team confirmed they were performing a "rollback" to restore accounts to their state before the breach occurred.

Ubisoft has assured players that they will not be penalised for spending any of the credits or items received during the hack. However, any progress or transactions made after 11:00 AM UTC (4:30 PM IST) on 27th December will be reversed.

While the servers are slowly being brought back online for testing, the company has warned that full restoration may take time as they perform extensive quality control. For gamers, this serves as a stark reminder of the vulnerabilities within major live-service titles. Ubisoft is yet to confirm how the breach occurred, though security researchers suggest a vulnerability in their database systems may be to blame.