“Once it grabs you, it’s hard to let go”
After getting the chance to talk to a developer on Rainbow Six Mobile, we also wanted to get the community’s perspective on the launch of the game. We could think of no better person to ask than one of the community’s largest and longest-serving content creators. Kudos has garnered 250k subscribers on YouTube since he created his channel in 2018. His videos, which have amassed an impressive 150 million views to date, gained popularity due to his friendly, enthusiastic commentary on Rainbow Six Siege’s lore and updates to the game, as well as useful tips for players.
We spoke to Kudos, whose real name is Kyle, about how he and his audience have found R6 Mobile so far, the future of mobile shooters, esports, crossovers, and more. You can also check out our Rainbow Six Mobile developer interview for the more official take on many of these topics.
My first mission was to find out how Kudos and his audience have been enjoying Rainbow Six Mobile so far. He tells me that he thinks it’s working really well. “It’s one of those things I never thought would work on a mobile device,” the YouTuber tells me. In particular, he seems struck by how slick the port is. “I really like that streamlined gameplay for the mobile devices and the different things they’ve implemented along the way”. He highlights that you can now aim-down-sights while reloading your weapon, and seems fascinated by the use of an underbarrel on operators like Ash.
Kudos’ audience feels very similarly, saying that the reception has been great, with Rainbow Six Siege players seemingly very open to trying out this new iteration of the game they love. “It’s not only a testament to my viewers and the Siege community in general, but also a testament to how well the game has been developed”, he says, attributing the success of the game to both a great build and a great community. “I feel like opening your audience to a mobile game, especially because there’s a lot of stigma around that stuff still, a lot of people would be very hesitant to it”. I know what he means, because some PC gamers have a superiority complex about even the best mobile games. Still, I’m glad to hear how well Rainbow Six Mobile is going down.
In terms of broader market viability, I’m curious what he thinks makes R6 Mobile stand apart from other shooters in the genre. Kudos points to the widely beloved features of Siege. “It’s the map destruction, it’s the limited time, it’s the objective, it’s the operators and all their different, unique abilities. And it’s not to say that Siege is the only game which has operators, or champions, or whatever you would like to call it the term given to it, but [the appeal is] when it all comes together”. Ultimately, then, it’s the gameplay loop that really makes the difference here. “The game really captures you…Once it grabs you, it’s hard to let go”.
Has he tried other mobile shooters before? “I’ve dipped my toes in”, he says, but tells me he struggled with the touchscreen controls on other games. His past experience with shooters has been one of struggle, because of the less-than-smooth nature of play, but with R6, he notes that “the Siege gameplay being developed into mobile shows me that anything is possible for a mobile game these days”.
“PCs are getting more expensive,” Kudos continues, saying that mobile is one of the only ways to keep it accessible for everyone. “Having such industry pillars of modern gaming, like Siege and other titles now being on mobile, further establishes that market and also includes that player base of people who may have always wanted to be included, but couldn’t, because of pricing reasons or geographical reasons”.
Speaking of accessibility, I want to know what, in his expert opinion, R6 Mobile will do for the community at large. “The Siege community is very unique”, he tells me. Because of that, the future is bright. “The Siege and the Rainbow Six community, we just want to make more friends, we just want more people to be involved, we just want everyone to be happy. We all just look out for each other, and the more the merrier, you know? And if you come from mobile, that’s perfectly fine.”
I’m a little surprised to hear it, but if the R6 community is as welcoming as Kudos says, I’m keen to know what advice he has for new players. After all, it can be a toxic world out there, especially for new players who’re just trying to learn the ropes.
His number one tip? “Don’t be afraid to make mistakes and die. If you die, take that as a lesson, that’s how you learn the most”. You might get unlucky with wallbangs – everyone does at some point, but generally, there’s a reason you died – whether that’s because you’re in the wrong position, you were outplayed, or your aim needs work.
“Another bit of advice I’d say is don’t always reinforce every single wall”, Kudos adds. I ask him to clarify this for the newbies. “The reason why you shouldn’t reinforce every wall, and particularly between bomb sites, is that the attackers only need to gain control of one of the two bombsites… You want to be able to kind of hold both bomb sites from either room, rather than blocking them off from each other. So what you’re actually doing [by reinforcing every wall] is you’re making it harder for yourself to retake a bomb site once the attackers take control”. Seems simple enough to me.
He seems pretty forgiving, though: “We [PC players] have been down this learning path before, and people are gonna have to go down it again. It’s just a natural part of the process for this game”. He makes sure to add that he thinks mobile will develop its own meta, though, due to natural differences in the games.
This turns out to be a great segue into my next question: I’m curious about how Kudos sees the esports scene developing. He doesn’t comment on the meta, but he is excited. “As I really want to watch really good Siege gameplay on a big stage, I really want to watch good mobile gameplay on a big stage”.
Would he want to be involved in something like that? “It’s 100% something I’d always like to get involved with. I’m not here to be a Rainbow Six Siege guy, I’m here to be a Rainbow Six guy, you know what I mean? So anything to do with Rainbow Six, I’m down.
On a different note, Kudos put out a video where he grilled Ubisoft on the Rainbow Six Metal Gear Solid collab, asking how the inclusion of operator Solid Snake fits into the lore. For an operator, it’s essential to him that the crossover makes sense. “I feel like if you’re incorporating them into the game, they have to fit, and luckily, Metal Gear Solid actually fits really well. I’ve been very, very happy with how they’ve handled Snake’s incorporation into Siege and the whole narrative side he has with Sam Fisher”. I’m intrigued to know if he has more thoughts about operators he’d like to see. “I’ve always wanted to see Nomad from Ghost Recon because there are actually missions in those games as well where he teams up with Rainbow, and operators appear in that game”.
But skins are a different story. “If it’s a skin, it doesn’t really bother me”, he says, and doesn’t expand much, but I get the feeling he thinks of skins as more of a bit of fun than anything else. Consequently, he’s open to a much wider array of IPs, stating that he’s a big fan of PlayStation classics like God of War and Uncharted, and that these would be cool to see – as long as the line of canon events isn’t overstepped.
To wrap up, I’m eager to know if Kudos has any pleas for the developers when it comes to adding or changing anything about Rainbow Six Mobile. Kudos says that, for the most part, he’s very happy with the interpretation of the gameplay elements. “I actually do like the fact that they’ve incorporated their very own map that they built from the ground up, which is one that isn’t present in Siege”.
The few things he wants to see added include operator icons, as he says, “I want to see my operator icons at the top of the screen. It’s just such an iconic part of the characters”, and more destructible elements. On this, he notes that it would be cool to see “some of the environmental destructible ingredients which have been present from Siege since the Siege X update, like fire extinguishers”.
There you have it, game devs – get on it! We hope you enjoyed hearing from a seasoned player about his thoughts. Make sure to download Rainbow Six Mobile and subscribe to Kudos.
