Yakuza’s Kazuma and Sayama are(n’t) joining the Rainbow Six Siege roster

destructoid.com:

You might have heard the hot scoop that Kazuma Kiryu is about to guest star in Rainbow Six Siege. Well, he isn’t, but his suit and haircut sure are. Ubisoft has announced that it is collaborating with Sega to bring character skins of the Yakuza hero — as well as his one-time love interest and ass-kicking partner, Kaoru Sayama — to its popular online squad shooter.

The Rainbow Six Siege Yakuza Bundle, which launches on all platforms today, includes looks for Siege‘s resident “Team Japan,” Hibana and Echo. In addition to the character skins, new weapon skins will kit Hibana out with a Police-themed rifle skin, while Echo gets a pearl-colored rifle skin emblazoned with the legendary Dragon of Dojima. Though these are, essentially, Siege characters in cosplay, it’s still pretty weird to see even a dollar store Kazuma carrying a gun. Later this season, a new Elite skin will see Echo transform into the wildly unpredictable Goro Majima, as teased in the above trailer.

This is not the first time Rainbow Six Siege has ventured into “guest skins” territory. Back in 2020, Rainbow squad leader Ash got her Lara Croft on, while 2021 saw Zofia don the iconic S.T.A.R.S. garb of Resident Evil‘s Jill Valentine. These crossover costumes are part of Rainbow Six Siege‘s continued progression into a wider universe of lore — evolving from its nationalistic and stringently militant, roots into a more approachable, character-driven, alternate universe. Another example of this new direction lies in the icky, sci-fi sensibilities of 2021’s Rainbow Six Extraction, which saw the counter-terrorist team battle a literal alien invasion.

Rainbow Six Siege and Rainbow Six Extraction are available now on PlayStation, PC, and Xbox platforms. The Rainbow