Badges - Rainbow Six Siege
About
Introduced in Year 9 Season 4, Badges bring a new layer of challenge, system mastery, and player expression to Rainbow Six Siege.
The feature gives players a meaningful long-term pursuit that reflects different playstyles and rewards mastery across the game’s systems. At launch, we added 22 unique badges alongside the existing Elite badges unlocked through Elite operator bundles.
Players can equip up to three badges on an operator card, creating a combination that reflects their achievements and makes the card feel personal.
Most badges also progress through several tiers. They begin in bronze at Tier 1, then become increasingly demanding as players advance through silver and gold to the distinctive chromatic Tier 4 treatment.
When you see a player whose card is covered in chrome badges, you know you’re in capable hands.
My Tasks
Badges did not begin as a fully defined mandate. While we were working on the Locker, a UI artist and I started exploring what the feature could become. Their early visual concepts gave us a strong foundation, and I began designing the screens where badges would be discovered, viewed, and equipped.
I was initially the feature’s only dedicated UX designer, while the other UX designer on the team focused on Career.
My work covered the full process, from early greyboxing and layout exploration to higher-fidelity mockups developed closely with UI Art. I also created much of the feature documentation and supported implementation through to release.
Throughout development, I collaborated closely with UI Art to shape the badges themselves and establish a scalable visual system for their categories and tier-based progression.
Final Result
Goals & Objectives
Reward
Badges celebrate achievements and milestones throughout a player’s journey. They give those accomplishments a visible place in the game and let players earn a little well-deserved bragging rights.
Self-Express
Siege already offers extensive visual customization through operator appearances, weapon skins, and operator cards. Badges add another personal layer, allowing players to equip the achievements they value most or simply the designs they find most appealing.
Challenge
Early badge tiers introduce players through approachable objectives, while later tiers become genuine long-term pursuits. Reaching Tier 4 can take months or even years of regular play, making the highest-tier badges a meaningful display of dedication.
Although my primary focus was the feature’s user experience, I was also closely involved in defining the visual identity of the badges themselves.
We wanted every badge to feel polished and desirable, giving players something they would genuinely want to unlock, equip, and show off.
This was especially important for Tier 4, the highest level available for some badges. Its treatment needed to stand apart immediately from the earlier tiers and make the achievement feel properly rewarding.
Feature Demo
I can only share the final in-game version of this feature.
In the video, I browse the badge sections for several operators in a live build and show the badges I have unlocked so far. Because the feature is still new, I have not yet earned any challenge-based badges. The screenshots below provide a broader look at the final badge designs.
Badges Beauty Shots
A showcase of the final badge elements created by our UI Art team in Substance Designer.
UI Art, UX Design, and Game Design worked closely together to establish a clear visual language for badge categories, progression tiers from bronze through chrome, and the challenge objective represented by each badge’s central icon.
What the People think
“It’s a cool thing and something to really just work on getting, so I’m looking forward to that getting added in.”
“I think this is cool. (…) It keeps people more engaged!”
