Rainbow Six Extraction will let your friends play with you for free, for a bit
They can play for two weeks with a Buddy Pass
Ubisoft have announced that Rainbow Six Extraction will come out on January 22nd, and will launch with a Buddy Pass system that lets your pals briefly play for free. The PvE spin-off from tactical shooter Rainbow Six Siege will have players diving into missions in teams of three to fight aliens. If just one of you owns the game, you can invite two squaddies to play with you without having to buy it for two weeks.
Extraction owners will be able to send up to two Buddy Pass tokens to friends. The game will have crossplay, so they can be on any platform too. Once they accept the invite, they'll have access to the game as long as they're in a squad with you.
Your buddies will be able to play any content with you that you've unlocked, with the exception of post-launch DLCs. Any progression those friends earn while playing will carry over if they decide to buy the game themselves too. Take a look at the FAQ for more info.
I'm glad Ubi are doing this. I'm really interested in playing Extraction, but I know some of my mates are skeptical. This way, they at least get to try it with me without committing any cash to it. And hey, I reckon if we play enough we could blast through it in two weeks anyways.
Ubisoft have also announced they've lowered the game's price. While it previously going to cost £50/$60, now it'll be £34/$40 (at least for the standard edition). Anyone who preordered at the heftier price will be refunded the difference.
Rainbow Six Extraction (formerly Quarantine) was supposed to arrive this year, but was delayed alongside Rider's Republic (which came out last month).
It's now set to arrive on January 20th, 2022. It's coming to the Epic Games Store and the Ubisoft Store, as well as PlayStations and Xboxes.
I'm looking forward to this one. It's supposed to be a stealthy affair where you can lose operators on missions if you're not careful. Don't worry though, back in July I interviewed the developers who told me the game has a failsafe system so you'll never be left without playable characters. That still doesn't mean you should go sacrificing them to the aliens all willy-nilly though.