‘Rainbow Six Siege’ Introduces Osa, Its First Transgender Operator
Ubisoft has confirmed it is introducing its first transgender Operator into Rainbow Six Siege, with Crystal Guard's Osa.
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Ubisoft has confirmed it is introducing its first transgender Operator into Rainbow Six Siege, with Crystal Guard’s Osa.
Noticed by Gamespot, Osa’s in-game bio mentions that she “found herself isolated [at the University of Zagreb] due to her unorthodox approach and others’ attitudes towards her transition”.
Ubisoft then confirmed that this ‘transition’ is indeed confirming Osa to be transgender, saying “the decision to create a transgender character was made early on, as part of our initiative to have an inclusive roster of Operators. The consultants, all of whom are trans people, wanted to make sure that Osa was presented as authentically and organically as possible. She was written by a queer person and she is voiced by a trans woman – and while her identity is certainly influenced by her gender, who she is in the Siege universe is centered on her talents, her influence on Nighthaven, and her close friendship to Kali.”
While I question the claim that the decision to create a transgender character was made “early on”, as she is part of the third content update in the game’s sixth year, I still think this is a pretty cool inclusion. Siege still has a massive player base that want to be represented in-game, and the cast already covers a wide range of sexualities, ethnicities and backgrounds – gender should simply be another part of that.
It is also great that transgender people have actively contributed to the character, especially in front-facing roles such as writing and voice acting. Does it do much to challenge the entire Tom Clancy franchise’s sometimes offputtingly pro-military, pro-authority slant? Not really. But it is cool nonetheless.
Osa is a new attacker operator introduced with Crystal Guard. Paradoxically for an attacker, Osa’s primary gadget is a deployable bulletproof window. While that sounds very defensive, its purpose is more to plug up lines of sight made by the defence while the attack pushes forward, rather than hanging back and building chokepoints as, say, Mira would.
Osa and Crystal Guard’s full reveal is due to happen today (August 16) at 9AM CDT on the official Rainbow Six Twitch channel.
