French video game giant Ubisoft was forced to halt live Rainbow Six Siege services after hackers broke into the game and distributed 2 billion in-game credits to every player.
Exploitation is in the beginning confirmed by the team via X on December 27, with a series of updates that ultimately led to suspension game server and next day market.
Reports from players on social media show that hackers have managed to take control of major parts of the game’s online system, with players bring backng that everyone was getting R2 billion in game credits after signing up, along with rare items such as skins and weapons.
Meanwhile, hackers also took control of the game’s messaging and ban systems, according to screenshots divided by the player.
With the game selling 15,000 R6 credits for $99.99 each, players would have to spend roughly $13.33 million to collect 2 billion points.
In a December 28th UX post, the Rainbow Six Siege team announced that they are working to cancel in-game credits received after 11am UTC.
“The rollback is currently underway, after which extensive quality control tests will be performed to ensure the integrity of the account and the effectiveness of the changes,” the team said.
“Please know that this matter is being treated with great care and therefore timeliness cannot be guaranteed. We will provide another update as soon as we know more,” they added.
The team also said that players will not be banned for spending the credits they have received.
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The game returns via soft-launch
The game is currently in testing with a small number of players for the relaunch.
“Opening the game to a small number of players only, while we complete live tests. More information about the rollback and full live relaunch to come,” said the team at X.
Rainbow Six is a major franchise under the Ubisoft umbrella, with the Siege title averaging over 34,000 active players in December according to data by Active Player.
The team’s ability to reverse in-game currency transactions would not be possible if the game used truly decentralized cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ether. But as the controversial return of the Flow blockchain over the weekend shows, it’s certainly a viable possibility for some crypto projects as well.
Ubisoft has made several moves in the blockchain gaming space, partnering with Immutable earlier this year to leverage the company’s infrastructure to integrate with the company’s Web3 games such as Might & Magic.
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