PayPal teams up with top Rainbow Six tournaments

Paypal is penetrating more and more into the export industry: besides using Paypal for esports betting, this popular online payment provider has partnered up with several esports tournaments for the acclaimed first-person shooter, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six. The partnership will see the PayPal brand name featured prominently at several key esports competitions from now until November 2019. These include the Pro League Season 9 and 10, as well as the hugely anticipated Six Major tournament in summer.

Whilst Counter Strike Global Offensive has often been seen as one of the world’s most popular esports, this partnership deal is hoped to help the Rainbow Six franchise to boost its appeal in the competitive gaming world, and it will also strengthen PayPal’s bid to become the online payment brand of choice amongst the one billion global gamers who spend whilst playing.

Details of the partnership between PayPal and Rainbow Six

The new partnership got its unveiling when the Pro League Season 8 Finals kicked off in Rio De Janeiro in Brazil last weekend. This epic gaming contest will took place in front of thousands of eager esports fans in the Jeunesse Arena that has a capacity of 14,000 and even hosted some events in the Rio 2016 Olympics. With a total prize pool of $275,000, we saw a heated contest between the eight top teams from the APAC, EU, NA and LATAM regions.

With stellar performances from iconic esports teams like FaZe Clan, G2 and NORA-Rengo, it showed that competitive gaming is a real hit in Brazil and marked a shrewd move for PayPal. From here, the partnership will run through two more Pro League Finals, and also the Rainbow Six Invitational 2018.

But it’s the return of the Six Major this summer that will give PayPal their greatest amount of exposure in the esports domain. Whilst the location of this gaming extravaganza is yet to be disclosed, the previous Six Major tournament in Paris didn’t hold back in top esports entertainment. This saw G2 consolidate their excellent gaming reputation with a title-winning performance that saw them picking up $150,000 in winnings ahead of commendable achievements from the likes of Evil Geniuses, Team Secret and Rogue.

With a peak viewership of well over 250,000, it’s tournaments like this that have put Rainbow Six on the competitive gaming map, and it’s easy to see why PayPal would want to get involved with such an increasingly popular esports title.

Could this help Rainbow Six become a world-beater?

Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six has become something of a sleeper hit on the esports scene since the Siege instalment was released in December 2015. The game’s parent company, Ubisoft, put plenty of effort into ensuring that this multiplayer title required plenty of tactical skill in order for each team to conquer their opponents. And with over 40 million gamers having signed up to the Rainbow Six Siege cause as of June 2018, it’s clear that Ubisoft’s efforts have paid off.

With the likes of CS:GO maintaining a huge amount of popularity as a result of esports, Ubisoft also made the wise move to enter the Rainbow Six title in the competitive gaming scene. As a result we saw Ubisoft partnering with the massive German esports organiser, ESL, to ensure that Rainbow Six would be included in the company’s Pro Leagues and National Championships.

It’s been a tough journey for a game that initially suffered from relatively weak sales upon its launch, but thanks to Ubisoft’s continuous updates and the legions of loyal Rainbow Six fans, it seems as though Siege has managed to deliver one of the biggest gaming comebacks of all-time.

Why did PayPal partner up with Rainbow Six?

PayPal is widely known as being one of the world’s most popular online payment providers. With well over 250 million people all over the world having a PayPal account, the brand has become seen as being at the forefront of the online payment industry.

Despite this, there are many who perceive that PayPal have lagged behind other payment providers in the nascent esports scene. Brands such as Paysafecard have become incredibly popular amongst gamers for allowing them a safe and convenient way to top up their balances and pay for a wide range of in-game transactions.

But the new partnership between PayPal and Rainbow Six will look to make this payment provider get an extra level of visibility for gamers who want to buy in-game items and access extra game content. The Rainbow Six game introduced Outbreak Packs to gain a wide range of character items in January 2018. Whilst these received something of a backlash amongst loyal fans, the fact that further Sunsplash Packs were unveiled this summer shows that in-game items are going to be an essential part of the franchise, and so PayPal’s decision to get involved could prove to be very wise.

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