Rainbow Six Siege unveils new global esports circuit, announces multi-year partnership with BLAST
Ubisoft announced the new global esports circuit for their popular tactical FPS game Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege. The company also disclosed that it partnered up with BLAST, in a multi-year deal that will see the Danish company being responsible for producing every event in the new Rainbow Six Siege esports circuit.
This new competitive circuit brings a lot of changes to the Rainbow Six Siege esports scene. The goal is to have more high-stake international matches, while still giving up-and-coming teams a chance to reach the top level of the competitive scene. It will start in March 2023, and the first big move is the introduction of 9 regions.
Rainbow Six Siege new esports circuit will start in March 2023, and end in February of the following year. From March to April we will have Stage 1. Here, teams from every region will have a chance to qualify for the first Six Major of the year. They will be able to do it through an open qualifier, which will happen in all the regions, or by a closed league, that will take place in six of the nine regions, at least for now.
The list of regions includes Europe, North America, Brazil, Japan, South Korea, and Hispanic Latin America. Ubisoft is still working on the final details for the remaining regions, so they may also have a close league in the future. According to Ubisoft:
“Regular opportunities for up-and-coming players to compete against pros and show their potential are crucial for the long-term health and competitiveness of the scene. In parallel, certain regions will also run closed leagues where fans will be able to enjoy the top teams competing at the highest level of Siege Esports”.
With an increased number of regions, the Rainbow Six Siege Majors will see a change in its format. A new phase will be introduced, and it will take place before the groups and playoffs stages. However, we still don't know much about it, and the full details will be revealed in the upcoming Six Invitational.
After the Rainbow Six Siege Major, we will have a three month off-season period. It will give teams time to rest, improve the synergy with their new roster if they decide to make changes, and also create room for third-party tournaments. Then, the same cycle is repeated in stage two, until we reach the Six Invitational, the most prestigious competition in the Rainbow Six Siege esports ecosystem.
To qualify for the Six Invitational, teams will have to earn points throughout the year. No longer will there be a Last Chance Qualifier. Now, squads will earn points according to their performance at regional and international events. This system rewards the most consistent teams of the year, with the top 20 squads in the Global Standings at the end of the year qualifying for the Six Invitational.
The Rainbow Six share will continue as it is, and over the following months, Ubisoft and BLAST will work closely to make sure everything is ready to welcome fans to the new Rainbow Six global esports circuit on March 2023.
The Six Invitational has seen a slight decrease in viewership in the past three years, especially when compared to the first two editions of the event. Despite that, it still reaches a considerable audience. The biggest R6 events of 2022 peaked at 250K-300K concurrent viewers.
As mentioned above, with this new global esports circuit, Ubisoft wants to promote more high-stakes matches, which will surely attract more interest from the viewers. It will also help the game develop its fan base all around the globe, meaning more people will be interested in playing and watching the game. If executed properly, this can give a new life to the Rainbow Six Siege esports scene, and bring its competitive scene closer to the ones of FPS industry giants, such as Valorant, or Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.
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