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Rainbow 6: Patriots may now be next-gen game, Ubisoft CEO says

Colour us surprised.

Dark anti-terrorism shooter Rainbow 6: Patriots may be released for next-generation consoles, Ubisoft boss Yves Guillemot has suggested.

The squad-based FPS was announced last year for release on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. At that time it had a vague "2013" launch date attached.

We've heard very little about it since.

In March this year three of the team's top developers left the project. Eyebrows were again raised when the game was absent at E3 in June.

"The only thing I can say is that we have a good team working on it, and it's really looking good," Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot told Polygon. "So when it will come, it will surprise the industry."

Guillemot could not confirm whether Patriots was now a next-generation game, but said "there's a good chance it can be".

Ubisoft previously explained Patriots' E3 no-show by saying it was saving room for its other titles - games which will presumably launch sooner.

"The best thing for the brand was to not bring it to the show right now," Ubisoft exec Tony Key explained. "We have a lot of other games that we want to focus people on and there will be more information on Rainbow coming."

Rainbow 6: Patriots, as last seen in December 2011.