Rainbow Six Siege 2 and Apex Legends 2 rumoured as publishers alter sequel plansMichael BeckwithPublished February 6, 2025 11:27amUpdated February 6, 2025 11:27am Rainbow Six Siege itll be 10 years old this December (Ubisoft)Two of the biggest live service games may be about to get sequels, with comments from EA about Apex Legends 2 and rumours of Rainbow Six Siege 2.The forever game is the dream for most publishers nowadays, driven by the success of Fortnite and Roblox. Its why so many have jumped on the live service games bandwagon, hoping to release a game thatll never end and can just be constantly updated with new content.Unfortunately for publishers, most attempts fail and often miserably so. Just this week, Warner Bros. announced itll be winding down support for its free-to-play platform fighter MultiVersus and last year saw the likes of XDefiant, Foamstars, and the disastrous Concord meet similar fates.There have been some long-term successes though, such as EAs Apex Legends and Ubisofts Rainbow Six Siege. Both have previously said that the games will never receive sequels but it seems that attitude is changing at both companies.Live service games typically dont get sequels since it requires convincing an entire playerbase to ditch the game theyve invested time and money into for a newer version theyll potentially dislike and doesnt have any of the content they earned/bought (this is one of the reasons Bungie split with Activision, given their insistence on making Destiny 3).Overwatch 2 is the obvious current example of this situation, which completely replaced its predecessor, quickly proved unpopular, and repeatedly angered players with almost every decision it made particularly by cancelling promised content.It says a lot that Activision Blizzards recent efforts to win over fans has been a throwback mode to the first Overwatch and bringing back 6v6 gameplay.Apex Legends developer Respawn once called a hypothetical Apex Legends 2 its anti-vision and just this past October EA CEO Andrew Wilson seemed disinterested in the idea, telling investors in an earnings call, Typically, what we have seen in the context of live service-driven games at scale is, the version two thing has almost never been as successful as the version one thing (via Eurogamer).A lot mustve changed in the last three months or so because, in EAs latest earnings call, Wilson says, There will be a time where we need to do a more meaningful update of Apex Legends as a broad game experience. And the team is diligently working on that, even referring to it as an Apex 2.0.Its not entirely clear if Apex 2.0 would be treated as a separate product, that supplants the original, or if it would just introduce an overhaul to the current game without requiring players to start from scratch, but this is the first time EA has talked like this about the game.As for what could have spurred this change, Wilson admits theres been a drop in Apex Legends revenue, but the game is still performing within expectations. Although EA is probably spooked by the recent underperformance of EA Sports FC 25 and Dragon Age: The Veilguard and is eager to make up for it elsewhere.Meanwhile, a popular rumour thats spread throughout the Rainbow Six Siege community is that its own sequel (referred to as Siege X) is in the works. Ubisoft has also insisted it has no plans for a sequel, but then it did say it wanted to support Siege for 10 years and it has now been 10 years since the games 2015 release.The rumour comes from dataminer fraxiswinning, who claims the sequel will be announced during the Six Invitational 2025 esports competition next week and will feature a complete engine overhaul, graphical upgrades, and new events.It seems like publishers are becoming more receptive to the idea of live service game sequels, perhaps because building on an already established game and playerbase is easier than promoting something entirely new.More TrendingTheir change in attitude may also simply be because some of these games are getting old and a new generation of consoles is looming. Insisting a game will be supported for at least 10 years seems like forever until time catches up with you.Counter-Strike 2 may also have something to do with the change in attitude, since despite pushback from long-time fans of the original, who were upset that it was being replaced, its easily the most popular game on Steam, regularly attracting nearly a million players every month.All in all, it appears what EA and Ubisoft have decided is that its better to double down on the live service games that are actually doing well rather than invest in making brand new ones.Time will tell if this attitude pervades throughout the rest of the industry. At the very least, EA looks to be walking back its stance on single-player games, since it blames Dragon Age: The Veilguards underperformance on its lack of live service elements, which may also have inspired them to rethink their attitude towards games as a service. Rainbow Six Siege has been running non-stop since 2015 (Ubisoft)Emailgamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below,follow us on Twitter, andsign-up to our newsletter.To submit Inbox letters and Readers Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use ourSubmit Stuff page here.For more stories like this,check our Gaming page.GameCentralSign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content.This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy