Rainbow Six Siege X Is Getting Borderlands Skins Soon But Fans Are Divided

In an announcement released to X, the Rainbow Six Siege X team teased the inclusion of new Borderlands-themed content coming to the game ahead of the Borderlands 4 release later this year. In the short teaser, fans aren’t able to see much beyond the announcement of the collaboration, a date, and the presumed skin of the iconic Psycho bandit.

Billed merely as the “R6 Siege X Borderlands” collab, the team missed out on an opportunity to incorporate the X from the latest game overhaul in some way, leaving the collaboration title feeling somewhat incomplete.

Released June 10th, the Rainbow Six Siege X update promised to be a “major evolution” for Rainbow Six Siege players, but in reality, it has been met with mixed audience reception. The update oriented the game towards a free-to-play model, but it still retained certain features like Ranked and Siege Cup behind a paywall.

Because of the negativity around the game, this Borderlands collab that might have breathed enthusiasm and new life into the Rainbow Six Siege X overhaul has also served as a lightning rod for game criticism. As of this writing, recent Steam reviews give the game a “Mixed” 62% rating, which is well below the 83% “Very Positive” average from all reviews.

Under the announcement teaser posted and reposted on various social media platforms, critical commenters focused more on the game’s problems than on the Borderlands collaboration itself.

“I’m trying my hardest not to hate rn but I can’t even play ranked and you want me to be happy about borderlands collab,” wrote X user Mar.

Some players have reported a massive influx of cheaters, hackers, and exploiters after the Siege X update that they hadn’t experienced with the title previously.

“Agreed, ATLEAST %60-80 of my games each day, I’ve run into someone wallhacking, no droning, and me and my stack don’t be moving at times. Yeah unfortunately ranked is cooked until these cheaters are dealt with,” wrote Reddit user Significant-Row-1306.

Another thing that has taken the wind out of the sails for some Rainbow Six Siege X players regarding this collaboration is that it was leaked weeks early. The surprise was spoiled for some players when leaked portraits of the Borderlands collaboration were posted online, all the way back in May, showing two character skins that were set to arrive in the game. Hackers have apparently also already been wearing the Borderlands skins in-game and showing them off to other players.

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Despite all these challenges, some fans were still excited to get their hands on the Borderlands cosmetics. However, others were skeptical of the direction that these collaborations continue to push these series, feeling that all these other IPs running around make the game look unrecognizable from how it used to be. When it was released in 2015, Rainbow Six Siege mostly kept its cosmetic items in-universe. However, starting in 2020, fans were increasingly bombarded with other universe crossovers from series like Assassin’s Creed, Arknights, Resident Evil, Rick and Morty, and Yakuza.

This Borderlands collaboration, which teased fans to “stay tuned” for more information on July 15th, will be the first major one to come to the game since the introduction of the Siege X update. While the team may be banking on it to win over players, it may end up having an underwhelming reception if game issues are still fresh in Rainbow Six Siege X gamers’ minds when it finally drops.