Solid Snake’s Appearance In Rainbow Six Siege Takes Place Before MGS2

Were you concerned as to whether Solid Snake’s upcoming career as a Rainbow Six Siege character would disrupt the Metal Gear series’ famously ironclad canon? Good news. Not only is the canon not ironclad, but even if it were, we seriously shouldn’t be thinking too hard about this.

Even better news: Ubisoft and Konami have decided to think hard for us. It’s been revealed that—insofar as anybody should actually care—Snake “officially” becomes an Operator between the pivotal events of Metal Gear Solid and Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of the Patriots. And by “officially,” I mean, it comes with the understandable disclaimer that it’s not actually considered official. But it still has something of a logical explanation. Kind of. Cool? Cool.

Here’s To You

Late last month, we reported that Ubisoft was teasing Metal Gear’s most popular and long-running hero as Rainbow Six Siege’s next Operator. It was a monumental notion; for all the skins that the devs have tossed into the game through its many years on the market, they’ve never been so bold as to throw somebody from another publisher in as a full-fledged Operator.

Now, we know. He’s coming on March 3, and Solid Snake has all sorts of surprises in store for his enemies. But what about the precious chronology, I hear six of you saying? The event occurs after 2005’s Shadow Moses Incident, but prior to Snake’s big fall aboard a tanker in 2007. I’ll be real; I’m not much of a Siege player, so I don’t know if that mucks things up for that game’s timeline. Is it set during the mid-2000s? If not, is this easily slottable into that universe’s past?

In an interview with Japanese publication GameSpark (translated by Metal Gear Network), Konami’s own Yuji Korekado explains:

Snake’s and Otacon’s adventures with Philanthropy have always been something I’ve wanted to see explored in sharper detail. A Rainbow Six Siege event has literally never been on my bingo card for that, but in fairness, it’s been about 20 years since I’ve thought there’s a real chance we’d have seen any of it, anyway.

David Hayter’s iconic operative is becoming, capital letter now, an Operative in Ubisoft’s mega-popular shooter. Good on him, I say. And good on Otacon for supporting his bro.

Next

“What Were They Thinking?”: God Of War Creator David Jaffe Really Doesn’t Like Sons Of Sparta

“Get over yourselves, man.”