We know this is something that should go without saying, but it’s worth reiterating: accuracy is everything in Rainbow Six Siege. Sure, player positioning and team composition are important too, but you still need to land your shots – preferably before your oppontents – if you want to win. One way you can take advantage of the hardware to hand and get one up on your enemies when it comes to this is by using a mouse and keyboard on the console version of Rainbow Six Siege. Ubisoft, thankfully, is aware of the imbalance this can cause and new Rainbow Six Siege leaks are showing just how the developer is going to tackle players using keyboard and mouse input on consoles.
Ahead of the full Rainbow Six Siege Operation Commanding Force reveal, which Ubisoft is scheduling for the middle of the upcoming Invitational on February 18, Reddit user ‘ProtonPacks123‘ has shared leaked images from ‘lungu_r6’ online that detail exactly how Ubisoft is going to introduce anti-cheat measures to Rainbow Six Siege on console by punishing keyboard and mouse players.
As you will be able to see for yourself below, it looks like anyone using a keyboard and mouse input on the console version of Rainbow Six Siege will have to deal with an additional input lag penalty that continues to increase over the course of several matches.
Why is this input lag going to impact keyboard and mouse players? Well, it has traditionally been a lot easier for players using a mouse to ascertain targets and quickly switch between them – when compared to someone using the joystick on a console controller. So, introducing an input lag should level the playing field and mean that console players stand more of a chance against opponents using a keyboard and mouse input.
supposed leaks of upcoming KBM penalty and warning for consoles from Rainbow6
Interestingly, according to the leak, it looks as though the input lag will only reduce “gradually” when a player starts playing with a controller again. We know we think that Rainbow Six Siege should introduce this Apex Legends ability in Y8S1, but we’re not sure what to think about this.
From reading through reactions to this leak, it seems as though there’s a general consensus that this is a positive chnage to Rainbow Six Siege on consoles – and it’s one of the only ways Ubisoft can tackle the problem as it can’t ban players using these devices as they’re supported by the console. However, we do agree with the sentiment that this could have a negative effect on players who need to use a keyboard and mouse device to play – or, those who just prefer it to controller.
While we don’t know all the details of this anti-cheat measure, it’s clearly something that’s going to punish XIM users – those that use a device to register a mouse and keyboard input as a controller on consoles – whether they’re cheating or not. It’s also interesting to note that the gradual increase may be because the detection software is based on patterns of behaviour as opposed to direct detection of a mouse and keyboard input. So, there’s no telling how accurate it will be just yet.
If you want to check out an over-arching summary of what’s new in Rainbow Six Siege Y8S1, you can in this live stream here:
It’s worth taking the time to learn the basics of Rainbow Six Siege ahead of the Six Invitational, and TRN’s Rainbow Six Siege Tracker will boost your performance when you do, but be wary of using a keyboard and mouse on consoles in the future – it just might not be worth it.