The question of whether mouse and keyboard or controller is a superior gaming control system is a debate that rages on, but it’s now a question that’s largely been answered in Rainbow Six Siege, by mistake. There’s currently an active bug in Siege which allows PC players to queue into console player’s game lobbies, and absolutely destroy them.
Rainbow Six Siege is one of the few older FPS games that still allow for crossplay — with one exception. While Xbox and PS5 players can happily pit their wits against each other, PC gamers are left out in the cold. Why? Because it’s generally agreed that the humble mouse and keyboard confers a significant advantage over console controllers where an FPS without aim assist is concerned. As such, it was supposed to be impossible for PC and console players to cross paths.
But as you’ve no doubt gathered, that is not the case, and multiple PC gamers have been able to access console lobbies, with the outcome generally being that the PC gamer dominates. That’s absolutely not what developer Ubisoft Montreal was intending, and it’s a bug you’d hope would be fixed quickly.
Except it seems to have been around for a while now. The earliest example that PC Gamer could find dated back from April 2023, which implied it could have been related to the Year 8 Season 1 patch released on April 11.
The method of reproducing the bug isn’t publicly known yet, and those who do know would be advised to keep that knowledge close to their chests, as sharing easily abused bugs like this can easily lead to a ban. One Siege YouTuber was able to reproduce the bug to prove its existence, but wisely chose not to share the details of how it is accomplished, instead confirming the method privately to PC Gamer and stating that it was "exceedingly easy".
It’s likely this bug will be quickly patched by Ubisoft, so hopefully it won’t be hanging around for much longer. Unfortunately, it does mean that console players may have to contend with unscrupulous or unlucky PC gamers in their lobbies. If they’re able to lean without aiming down their sights, then they’re on a keyboard.
