When you signed up for Rainbow Six Siege with the intent to exchange some old skins for R6 Credits, you may have hit a roadblock. The R6 Marketplace has been down since the end of December 2025, and its purpose remains unclear.
This wasn’t a simple maintenance issue. Forced by a security breach, Ubisoft had to close down the entire system virtually overnight. What happened, why R6 Marketplace remains closed, and what to expect once it returns.
What Is the R6 Marketplace and Why It Matters
The R6 Marketplace is Ubisoft’s official trading system for the Rainbow Six Siege cosmetics. Players make use of R6 Credits to purchase and sell skins for weapons, uniforms, headgear, charms, etc., using an order-book system, which appears much like a stock exchange and matches buyers and sellers.
It was released on June 10, 2025, with the Siege X update. In the years that have passed since, players have been swapping skins on Discord or third-party platforms, with some risking scams. The Marketplace provided the community with an official, Ubisoft-backed means of doing this.
Shutting it down was a big shock to them, which is why. For many players, it had become a part of their gameplay experience rather than just an optional feature, how they interacted with the economy of the game.
Still No R6 Marketplace?
Yes. The R6 Marketplace was closed on December 27th, 2025. All other gameplay features such as ranked, the normal shop, and Battle Passes operate as usual.
The only thing that was dragged was the trading platform. That’s another important message: Ubisoft does not have to fix a bad game; it just has to patch a damaged financial component of a game.
Third-party price trackers have also stopped their data feeds because there’s nothing that’s live to track data for. The best place for official updates is the Ubisoft channels.
The December 2025 Security Breach, Explained
On December 27, 2025, players reported seeing items in their inventories that they never bought. Some accounts even had billions of R6 Credits, and cosmetics designed for in-house developers were placed in the public lockers.
Another old in-game feature, dubbed the “ban ticker,” also came back to life and started to send out fake messages. Ubisoft acknowledged the incident within around 30 minutes, and shut down the Marketplace to limit the damage.
It wasn’t a simple problem. It was a visible manifestation of a back-end exploit that was sufficiently deep into the system to be able to alter currency and gain access to restricted content on a large scale.
How the MongoBleed Exploit Got to Compromise Accounts
The vulnerability was not related to individual player logins, but rather the database layer that was responsible for the Marketplace’s transactions, which is why it was dubbed MongoBleed.
That distinction matters. It wasn’t players being phished or having weak passwords. It was due to some issues in the way the Marketplace verified and recorded trades that allowed:
- You are not allowed to buy R6 Credits at the same time as the majority of people.
- Unauthorized use of unreleased cosmetics.
- The ability to move account data without being logged in to the account
But fixing a login vulnerability is one thing, and an actual exploit is quite another. It’s a much larger task to rebuild all the trust in an entire transaction database, which is why this fix is taking this long.
Timeline: From Shutdown to Today
So far, it has been as follows:
- The R6 Marketplace is available with Siege X starting on June 10, 2025.
- Unauthorized credits and items are added to inventories, 27 Dec. 2025. Ubisoft closes the Marketplace in less than 30 minutes. Ubisoft is closing down the Marketplace in less than 30 minutes.
- On January 13, 2026, Ubisoft announces its return “later in Year 11,” but without any date.
- Affected players will have a compensation window from January 16th – 25th, 2026.
- The shutdown is reinforced with a Player Protection update on January 30, 2026.
- Operation Silent Hunt begins on March 3, 2026, with the Marketplace still not available.
- Now: The relaunch will be tied to the post-Silent Hunt season, Operation Twin Shells.
This pattern is not a hasty solution; it’s a careful and deliberate approach.
What Ubisoft Has Said About the Shutdown
Ubisoft has been emphasizing scale and truthfulness in its messaging. The leak revealed that there were more problems than just the exploit—botting, account theft, and the abuse of the “credit transfer” system already had a negative impact on the trading economy.
There have also been widespread side effects such as erratic pricing and strange transactions involving rare items. According to Ubisoft, these must be addressed with the security rebuild, which is detailed in Ubisoft’s official statement about the Marketplace rebuild.
The message to get: This is a complete rebuild, not a quick patch. The status quo would return with reopening the Marketplace as is.
Compensation Received and When
From January 16 to January 25, 2026, players who signed in during this period will receive:
- 10 Battle Pass levels
- 4 XP Boosters
- 1 Alpha Pack
- 1 Delta Pack
- A special “P10C” weapon skin.
If you didn’t do it then, there is no word of a second wave. A nice reminder that live-service games typically have compensation periods that are limited in time, and a quick check on the official channels is important.
Are You Safe On Your Ubisoft Account?
Most likely, yes. The MongoBleed exploit did not affect individual accounts, but the backend of the Marketplace. It is not that someone has broken into your login.
Ubisoft has been rolling back the unauthorized transactions, so there shouldn’t have been any unusual credit hikes during the incident. However, while you’re in the process of rebuilding, it is a good idea to review some of the fundamentals of account security:
- Enable 2 Step Verification (required for Marketplace anyway)
- A strong, unique password should be used.
- Be alert for any emails that promise to provide “early access” or compensation claims that are phishing scams.
ShieldGuard is What’s Being Rebuilt Behind the Scenes
The security overhaul, called ShieldGuard, aims to improve the back-end security infrastructure of the Marketplace. Although there are no public details of the technicalities to date, the intended objectives are:
- Enhanced security against database-level attacks such as MongoBleed.
- Improved monitoring of unusual transaction patterns that can be detected early on.
- Economic measures to diminish the variability of prices
- A more lasting trading system, not merely patched back to its former glory!
In the interim, there have been some modest tweaks, such as allowing some seasonal cosmetics to be purchased straight with the R6 Credits, which allows players to spend credits without waiting for a trade to complete.
When will the R6 Marketplace be reopened?
The date for the event is not yet confirmed. Ubisoft has linked the release to Operation Twin Shells in the Year 11 Roadmap, following Operation Silent Hunt.
Mid-to-late 2026 – around a big event such as Six Invitational, which is not confirmed. Be wary of any date you see on the internet unless it is the one provided by Ubisoft.
When Storing Inventory, What can You do Ahead of Time to Ensure it Comes Back Safe?
There is no trade at the moment, but here are a couple of steps you can take to prepare yourself:
- Review your inventory. Skins from discontinued or older seasonal collections have a greater value.
- Enable 2-step verification and maintain an account of at least Level 25 (required for Marketplace).
- Be wary of third-party websites that are trying to offer real trades when the official website is not available.
Don’t wait until the relaunch to do this, as you will be scrambling.
Check your Local News for Official Information
High demand for information = easy spread of misinformation. Use credible sources:
- Official news page: it’s Ubisoft.
- This is the @Rainbow6Game on X.
- Don’t rely on unofficial websites that are known as “marketplace” or price tracker sites that say they know when the reopening will be.
It will be an actual announcement and not speculation from the community.
FAQs
In 2026, is R6 Marketplace still down?
Yes. This has been offline since 27 Dec 2025, and will come back sometime in Year 11.
Why is Ubisoft canceling out the R6 Marketplace?
A backend exploit known as MongoBleed let players access R6 Credits and cosmetics without permission.
So, did Ubisoft get hacked?
Not individually. The exploit did not affect the personal login credentials of the Marketplace, but rather its shared database.
Does Ubisoft reimburse players who were impacted?
Yes, but only for those who logged in from January 16 to 25, 2026.
When will the R6 Marketplace be open again?
It is yet to be confirmed when it will happen. It’s tied to Operation Twin Shells and is expected to launch in mid to late 2026.
Will I be able to play Rainbow Six Siege normally?
Yes. The Marketplace is the only one that is affected. All other features are normal.
Conclusion
The R6 Marketplace shutdown is all about one thing: the security issue is too critical to be patched; it needs a complete reconstruction. Ubisoft has been concentrating on improving the platform since December 27, 2025, with the ShieldGuard rebuild in preparation for a relaunch in conjunction with Operation Twin Shells.
In the meantime, just keep your account safe, wait for official channels for updates, and use the time to prepare your inventory. In the R6 Marketplace, with its return anticipated shortly, it’s all about trading smart from the get-go.
