Last weekend at the Pro League Season Seven finals, Ubisoft announced an overhaul to its esports structure for Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege. The Rainbow Six Siege Pro League will move away from a bracket-style season to a traditional league format.

Traditional league formats have become a popular trend for professional-level esports, with the Overwatch League and NBA 2K League debuting this year. However, the differences in Ubisoft’s approach continue the developer’s slow, methodical approach to esports that has lead Rainbow Six Siege from a minor competitive title to a game on the verge of competing with the biggest esports in the industry.

The New Rainbow Six Siege Pro League



The R6 Pro League currently consists of four major regions—North America, Europe, Latin America, and Southeast Asia—each with its own eight-team league. Previously, the teams would compete in three-month-long tournaments to qualify for Major championships. Now, the developer has completely revamped its format to more closely mirror early seasons of the League of Legends Championship Series (LCS).

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[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]R6 will implement a pick and ban phase for all league matches, similar to MOBA esports.[/perfectpullquote]

Each season will last 14 weeks with all teams playing at least one match each week. Seasons will culminate in an international championship featuring the two teams from each region with the best record. The league will also introduce a new relegation system which better utilizes R6’s Challenger League, an amateur league running parallel to the Pro League season.

At the end of each season, the seventh-place team in the Pro League will face off against the second-best Challenger League team in a relegation match. The winner will earn the Pro League spot for the following season while the loser falls into the Challenger League. Whichever team ends up in eighth place in the Pro League will be automatically relegated and replaced with the winner of the Challenger League.

Finally, R6 will implement a pick and ban phase for all league matches, similar to MOBA esports like League of Legends or Dota 2 .

Healthy International Competition



As the LCS grew, a common criticism against the format was the loss of international competition throughout the year. Previously, the best League of Legends teams from around the world had competed at various ESL , MLG , and DreamHack events. Over time, Riot Games slowly withdrew League of Legends from these third-party events, thereby reducing the chances for teams to challenge their counterparts in other regions.

[perfectpullquote align=”left” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]As the LCS grew, a common criticism against the format was the loss of international competition throughout the year.[/perfectpullquote]

Ubisoft has adopted a different approach with its league structure, one that ensures regions will challenge each other throughout the year. In addition to the season finals, the best Pro League teams will compete in two international Majors each year. The Paris Major will take place in August while R6’s most popular tournament, the Six Invitational, will remain in February. Both majors will expand to 16 teams with a variety of qualification opportunities. On a panel at the Season 7 Finals, Ubisoft’s esports manager Cary Lambert stated that the biannual majors are intended to be the pinnacle of Rainbow Six Siege competition.

Rainbow Six Siege will also be a featured game at four DreamHack events this year. Pro level teams will compete at these events, and the winner of DreamHack Valencia will automatically qualify for the Paris Major.

While the focus of R6 esports is on the professional league, Ubisoft has endeavored to provide competitive opportunities for teams at all levels. Online qualifiers for the Challenger League and the two Majors will include open brackets and Ubisoft has partnered with ESL to provide amateur Go4 tournaments for the game. From ranked solo play to the highest level of competition, Ubisoft has created a clear path for any player who wants to take their game to the next level.

Slow and Steady Corners the Market



The story of esports in 2018 has been all about professional leagues, but the focus has been on moving the industry to a franchise model. Both the Overwatch League and the NBA 2K League skipped the process of cultivating an esports scene and instead leapt right into fully franchised leagues.

Throughout its three year lifespan, Rainbow Six Siege has adopted a more methodical approach. The game saw moderate success upon launch, but over time has continued to add content and communicate with its players, slowly growing into a game with over 30M registered players.

This year, R6 has seen explosive growth in esports viewership, but Ubisoft took its time moving the game to a more rigid competitive structure. The move to six-month seasons was announced in January of this year, but Ubisoft waited another four months to completely restructure its professional league. Lambert said that the game had matured to the point where it was ready for a league format, but Ubisoft is still working slowly and carefully to cultivate its esports scene.

[perfectpullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]R6 has seen explosive growth in esports viewership, but Ubisoft took its time moving the game to a more rigid competitive structure.[/perfectpullquote]

At the Season 7 Finals, Ubisoft’s esports team held a meeting with professional players to discuss the new format, and a number of rule changes that would be introduced along with the league structure. The team received significant feedback on some of their rule changes, and confirmed at the panel that it would be revisiting certain rules based on that feedback.

Even the introduction of the relegation system speaks to Ubisoft’s careful approach. Many esports teams, brands, and players in other league-based esports dislike the concept of relegation as it affects their ability to develop long-term partnerships and strategies.

However, R6 is still a relatively young esport. While there are a few dominant teams, the competitive scene has not developed to the point where four regions can reliably sustain eight highly competitive franchises. Through relegation, Ubisoft can ensure that over the next year or two only the strongest teams and most stable organizations remain in the Pro League. Should R6 move to a franchise model in the future, the game will have a pool of established partner organizations from which to draw.

Rainbow Six Siege did not grab headlines when its esports scene began, but the game has now arrived and brought with it a dedicated player base and an established group of highly competitive teams, including respected esports organizations like Team Liquid, Evil Geniuses, and Fnatic. Ubisoft isn’t looking to trade on a current trend, or sell franchise spots based on potential, its building something designed to last.