Rainbow 6 Patriots creative director off the project

The team behind Rainbow 6 Patriots has seen a major shake-up, according to unconfirmed reports. The creative director, narrative director, lead designer, and animation director have all reportedly been taken off the project.

March 7, 2012 7:12 PM16

Update 7:12PM – Now with official comment from Ubisoft.

The anticipated franchise revival Rainbow 6 Patriots has seemed to have a strong vision driving it, but that vision may be fractured now. The development team behind the project has gotten a big shake-up with the removal of Creative Director David Sears.

A spokesperson from Ubisoft told Shacknews:

“David Sears is no longer on the Tom Clancy’s Rainbow 6 Patriots team and the new Creative Director is Jean-Sebastien Decant. The development team is still hard at work to deliver the next installment of the revered Tom Clancy series and more details on the game will be revealed at a later date.”

Game Informer originally reported that Sears, narrative director Richard Rouse III, lead designer Philippe Therien, and animation director Brent George had all been removed from the project. The report cited unnamed sources, but it’s worth noting that the four were all among the project heads interviewed for the magazine’s cover story, which revealed the game.

Ubisoft offered no word on Rouse, Thieren or George, but the loss of the creative vision for the project mid-stream is bound to mess with the continuity the development team had already established.

What we’ve seen of Patriots seems to point toward a morally complex story akin to the novels. The struggle is more topical, dealing with a group of home-grown terrorists calling themselves the True Patriots.

The game is scheduled for 2013 on PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. Whether this purported team shift to a new creative director will change that remains to be seen.