Here’s Why Rainbow Six Siege Didn’t Add Metal Gear Solid’s Cardboard Box as Well as Solid Snake

Rainbow Six Siege is getting Snake from Metal Gear Solid as a new Operator next month — but the game also nearly had a cardboard box item to hide in, too.

Speaking to IGN, Rainbow Six Siege creative director Josh Mills confirmed that the idea had been discussed internally, but ultimately was dismissed pretty quick — and for good reason. Simply put, Siege fans know the game’s maps too well.

While hiding from enemies in a cardboard box might work against NPCs, Siege fans simply remember the game’s levels too intricately to be tricked by a random package lying around.

“Our players already know every inch of every map, and among the team we have a saying, Operator’s eyes don’t lie,” Mills told IGN. “So, if there were suddenly a box in the corner of a room on any given map our players would promptly shoot that box.”

It’s a fair point, though sadly one which does mean we won’t be crouching inside any cardboard in Rainbow Six Siege anytime soon.

Ubisoft first teased its Rainbow Six Siege and Metal Gear Solid crossover last month, when it showed Splinter Cell’s Sam Fisher taking a Codec Call. Full details on Snake — and a look at us playing as him — lie in the video above. And yes, that is indeed David Hayter providing his voice once again.

Snake officially arrives in Siege as part of Season One: Operation Silent Hunt on March 3, which will also see the launch of a Gray Fox skin for Jackal, and a Meryl skin for Ash.

“We’re excited to bring the world of Metal Gear Solid series into Rainbow Six Siege with Season 1’s new Redacted event, a limited-time 4v4 infiltration mode where Snake and Zero lead a team of elite Operators to recover stolen data,” Mills said. “The team also went a step further with ‘Last Assignment’, a new mission for Dual Front designed as a special nod to long-time Metal Gear Solid fans.”

Metal Gear Solid may be one of the wildest crossovers for Rainbow Six Siege so far, but it’s far from the first. Other recent collaborations have brought the Attack on Titan and The Boys universes into the fold with various cosmetics for existing Operators. Splinter Cell didn’t launch with the game when it first launched back in 2015, but Sam Fisher did go on to get his own Operator in the form of Specialist Zero in 2020.

Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at [email protected] or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social