Rainbow Six Siege adds its first trans operative, Osa

Ubisoft’s Rainbow Six Siege gets its first trans operative with Osa (real name Anja Katarina Janković).

The news of a trans operative in Rainbow Six Siege shouldn’t be all that surprising, as Ubisoft have mentioned before – and again in a statement to GameSpot – that they have the initiative to create a more “inclusive roster.” We first saw them walk the walk with this statement in the reveal of Flores, a gay man hailing from the country of Buenos Aires. The reaction to him was mixed, but for the most part, people were stoked to have some gay representation in Rainbow Six Siege.

A few months on and now the community over at Rainbow Six Siege has Osa – a trans operative from Croatia who doesn’t mention anything to do with her identity within the game, outside of her biography which mentions her ‘transition.’ The full paragraph can be read, below.

“[Osa] followed her passion for creation and technology and studied electromechanics at a vocational school, and then military engineering at the University of Zagreb where she excelled at robotics engineering. She found herself isolated due to her unorthodox approach and others’ attitudes towards her transition, so she focused on her work. Her unique perspective and raw creative ability set her apart from her peers and got her the attention of Kali, who was in the country looking for recruits. An offer followed, and Janković joined Nighthaven.”

The wording of the transition wasn’t 100% clear, and so GameSpot reached out to Ubisoft to find out more. It was then confirmed that Osa is indeed trans, and that consultation from trans people was brought on to make sure that Osa was presented “as authentically and organically as possible.” Ubisoft also made the decision to hire a queer writer for her, as well as include a trans woman to voice her.

That said, we suspect that players should be prepared not to hear anything more about Osa being trans in the future of Rainbow Six Siege. In their statement to GameSpot, Ubisoft states that “while [Osa’s] 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.”

Osa is set to join Rainbow Six Siege today. Head to her official biography to find out more about her, her abilities, and her loadout.

About The Author

Aimee Hart

[She/They] Aimee Hart specializes in queer fandom, video games and tabletop, having started her career writing for numerous websites like The Verge, Polygon, Input Magazine and more. Her goal now is to boost LGBTQ+ voices in the video games industry.

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