As part of Rainbow Six Siege’s newly deployed Operation Grim Sky update, Ubisoft is introducing a two-factor account authentication system which will actually be required for those who want to play ranked PvP matches. However, even if ranked play isn’t your cup of tea, it’s still worth enabling two-factor authentication since doing so will unlock an exclusive character skin for the operator Thermite.
Ubisoft recently sent out a tweet encouraging players to enable two-factor authentication, and within the tweet it also included an image of the new Thermite skin that’s unlocked once two-factor authentication has been activated.
https://twitter.com/UbisoftUplay/status/1037063179522781185
This Ubisoft forums thread provides detailed step-by-step instructions on how to enable two-factor authentication. Sadly, the only option that’s currently available is receiving a login token via the Google Authenticator smartphone app (or similar apps like Authy). Some other services also offer an option wherein you can receive a text message with a unique login code, but such is not the case for Ubisoft which means that players who don’t have an iOS or Android device are out of luck.
Two-factor authentication is handy to have simply for the added security it provides (just make sure you store your Google Authenticator backup codes in a safe place in case your app becomes borked for whatever reason), but it’s also nice to see game studios like Ubisoft offering extra little incentives like the new Thermite skin. Other games like Fortnite have also started offering in-game cosmetic incentives for two-factor authentication, and if it’s this sort of trend that spurs players into being more security-conscious, then hopefully other live service game companies will be quick to follow.
In other Rainbow Six Siege news, there’s a surprisingly large number of players who want to see more PvE-themed content like the Outbreak event from earlier this year. This is despite the fact that Outbreak ended up being quite lackluster in its execution, and Siege has always been a PvP-focused game first and foremost.