Rainbow Six Tactics Director Says 15 Operators Built to Avoid Overlap, Tachanka and Lion Miss the Cut

Potron said the goal was for every character to occupy a distinct role in the turn-based tactics spin-off. "My team really wanted the operators to feel unique and to serve unique places," he told TechRadar. "It was part of the creative process to make sure that every Operator would serve one turf course in the experience, so we really made sure that all Operators were unique: unique gadgets, unique playstyles, unique progression. It was crucial for us, in fact, that we didn't have too much overlap with other Operators."

Ubisoft has confirmed six of the 15 Operators so far: Ash, Sledge, Glaz, Montagne, Doc and Nokk. According to TechRadar, players will not be able to deploy the same Operator repeatedly, a limitation tied to the game's new gameplay systems. The confirmed line-up is well short of the full roster players know from the core Rainbow Six series.

Potron said certain characters were effectively mandatory inclusions. "We really did the operators that were impossible not to have, [like] Sledge and Ash," he said, adding that a few omissions disappointed him personally. "I love Tachanka. We don't have Tachanka; we don't have Lion," he said. "We had to make [tough] choices. It's part of my job to make [tough] choices."

The game director said there are no current plans to expand the roster after launch. "For the launch, it's not something we are digging into," Potron said. "We are very close to releasing a fantastic single-player experience, and so [we're] focused on the release date; shipping something amazing, and we'll see [about] the future."

Rainbow Six Tactics is scheduled to release in 2027 for PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S.