''Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six'' (often shortened to ''Rainbow Six'' or ''R6'') is a tactical shooter

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

series by Red Storm Entertainment and

Ubisoft Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include '' Anno'', '' Assassin's Creed'', ' ...

, marketed under the '' Tom Clancy's'' banner of military-themed video games. Based on the novel '' Rainbow Six'' by American author

Tom Clancy Thomas Leo Clancy Jr. (April 12, 1947 – October 1, 2013) was an American novelist. He is best known for his technically detailed espionage and military science, military-science storylines set during and after the Cold War. Seventeen of ...

, it revolves around a fictional international counterterrorist organization called "Rainbow". ''Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six'' started in 1998 and as of 2024 consists of 13 entries with 6

expansion pack An expansion pack, expansion set, supplement, or simply expansion, is an addition to an existing role-playing game, tabletop game, video game, collectible card game or Miniature wargaming, miniature wargame. An expansion may introduce new rules ...

from early installments. ''Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six'' is one of the most popular and most influential tactical shooter series, and early installments in the series helped propel the tactical shooter genre into the mainstream. Since the mid-2010s, a significant

esports Esports (), short for electronic sports, is a form of competition using video games. Esports often takes the form of organized, multiplayer video game competitions, particularly between professional players, played individually or as teams. ...

scene has formed around newer ''Rainbow Six'' games. The original game in the series is '' Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six (1998)''.

Setting

''Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six'' follows a secret international counterterrorist organization called "Rainbow" (or "Team Rainbow"; capitalization varies between "Rainbow" and "RAINBOW"). The series is set in the canon '' Tom Clancy's'' universe, which is mostly shared with ''

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell ''Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell'' is a series of stealth action-adventure video games, the first of which was released in 2002, and their tie-in novels that were endorsed by Tom Clancy. The series follows Sam Fisher, a highly trained agent of a ...

'' and ''

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon ''Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon'' is a series of military tactical shooter video games published by Ubisoft. In the series, the player is in charge of a fictional, newly conceived squad of U.S. Army Special Forces soldiers from Delta Company, 1st B ...

''. Formed in 1999 by the world's

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law enforcement Law enforcement is the activity of some members of the government or other social institutions who act in an organized manner to enforce the law by investigating, deterring, rehabilitating, or punishing people who violate the rules and norms gove ...

, and

intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. It can be described as t ...

agencies to combat the post-

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

global rise in terrorism, Rainbow is a

black operation A covert operation or undercover operation is a military or police operation involving a covert agent or troops acting under an assumed cover to conceal the identity of the party responsible. US law Under US law, the Central Intelligence Ag ...

consisting of "operators" from nations and organizations worldwide, ranging from

special operations Special operations or special ops are military activities conducted, according to NATO, by "specially designated, organized, selected, trained, and equipped forces using unconventional techniques and modes of employment." Special operations ma ...

personnel and

police tactical unit A police tactical unit (PTU) is a specialized police unit trained and equipped to handle situations that are beyond the capabilities of ordinary law enforcement units because of the level of violence (or risk of violence) involved. The tasks of a ...

members to intelligence officers and field experts, trained and equipped to be the most capable counterterrorist professionals in the world, able to handle any terrorist attack, hostage rescue, or takedown that local authorities cannot conduct in an effective, reliable, or timely manner. Rainbow is headquartered in

Hereford Hereford ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of the ceremonial county of Herefordshire, England. It is on the banks of the River Wye and lies east of the border with Wales, north-west of Gloucester and south-west of Worcester. With ...

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, but has global

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and can base themselves at any intelligence agency's headquarters (such as Langley, Virginia) should their continued presence in a region be necessary. Due to the sensitive nature of their operations, such as being deployed in multinational incidents or against threats possessing

weapons of mass destruction A weapon of mass destruction (WMD) is a Biological agent, biological, chemical weapon, chemical, Radiological weapon, radiological, nuclear weapon, nuclear, or any other weapon that can kill or significantly harm many people or cause great dam ...

, and to simply prevent terrorists from knowing of their existence, Rainbow operates in absolute secrecy with complete

plausible deniability Plausible deniability is the ability of people, typically senior officials in a formal or informal chain of command, to deny knowledge or responsibility for actions committed by or on behalf of members of their organizational hierarchy. They may ...

, with only the most top-ranking government, military, and intelligence officials knowing they even exist. Cover-ups are often conducted after Rainbow's deployments to disguise operators as local police or military units, omit details that could alarm the public, or prevent the reporting of certain deployments. The leader of Rainbow is designated "Rainbow Six" (or just "Six"), a reference to the American rank code for

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

(O-6). The first Six was former U.S. Navy SEAL and CIA operations officer John Clark, who led the organization from its founding until his retirement. Since then, numerous individuals have taken the role of Six, the most recent being Harry Pandey. Though the ''Rainbow Six'' universe is generally grounded in reality and maintains its basic premise, recent installments and plot events partially depart from the series' established setting or Rainbow's traditional policies, with Rainbow hosting a publicly visible tactical competition, recruiting non-government or independent operators such as private military company "Nighthaven", and being deployed to defeat invading

extraterrestrials Extraterrestrial life, or alien life (colloquially, aliens), is life that originates from another world rather than on Earth. No extraterrestrial life has yet been scientifically conclusively detected. Such life might range from simple forms ...

Video games

The first game was developed by Red Storm Entertainment, while the novel was being written. Red Storm was acquired in 2000 by

, which has continued to manage the series ever since.

List of games

Notes

References

External links

Ubisoft Website
{{Tom Clancy franchises Ubisoft franchises Video game franchises Tom Clancy games G. P. Putnam's Sons books