Rainbow Six Siege 'Operation Blood Orchid' launches later this month on Xbox One

Six months after its last major expansion, Ubisoft has finally unveiled "Operation Blood Orchid" for Rainbow Six Siege. The game's sixth content drop takes combat to Hong Kong, adding a new map and playable operators upon the existing multiplayer sandbox.

Although little is officially known about Operation Blood Orchid, today's brief teaser backs up previous leaks in recent weeks. A new amusement park-themed map is expected to be the centerpiece of the update, alongside three new operators. Two of these, codenamed "Dazzler" and "Caltrop," will be a part of Hong Kong's Special Duties Unit (SDU), while the third will be a female member of Poland's GROM counter-terrorism division. Another member of the GROM unit is set to release later this year, as a part of the South Korean operation.

The arrival of this expansion also marks the conclusion of Operation Health – an initiative in recent months to address the biggest issues plaguing Rainbow Six Siege. Among the improvements were revamped servers, enhanced hit registration and other significant changes which affect the balance of gameplay.

A full reveal of Operation Blood Orchid is scheduled is scheduled for August 26, as a part of the Pro League finals at Gamescom 2017, Germany. Three days later, the update will release across all platforms, on August 29, 2017. As with all previous Rainbow Six Siege content drops, the operators will be available seven days early to Season Pass holders, ahead of the public release on September 5.

Matt Brown

Matt Brown was formerly a Windows Central's Senior Editor, Xbox & PC, at Future. Following over seven years of professional consumer technology and gaming coverage, he’s focused on the world of Microsoft's gaming efforts. You can follow him on Twitter @mattjbrown.