Rainbow Six Pro League is an esport that’s been quietly growing since the game’s release. Make no mistake, with the latest announcement from ESL it’s here to stay and play with the “traditional” big boys. ESL has announced the finals of Season 2 will be hosted at ESL Arena’s central stage at Gamescom in August.
It has also been revealed that the APAC Pro League will go live for Season 3. Now not only the best team in Europe and Americas will be crowned, but also the best in Asia. It will not follow the traditional format of the Pro League as it will be split into four sub-regions: Japan, South Korea, South East Asia and Australia-New Zealand.
Each of the aforementioned sub regions will host its own tournaments from September 5th to 27th, and the best two teams of each sub-region will meet at a LAN event in Sydney, Australia and the two best of Asia will then compete on the global stage, at the Season 3 Finals in Brazil in November.
The last facet of the announcement was that Montreal, Canada will play host to the Six Invitational, the flagship Rainbow 6 event, which will boast an impressive prize-pool of $500,000 (~£386,500) bringing the total prize money to $1,250,000 (~£966,000).
Matt Andrews, esteemed esports host and caster told Esports Insider: “Rainbow Six Siege is getting bigger and better with over $1m in prizes this year, more competitions and the number of players just keeps on growing with every season too. The community is so passionate and I feel privileged to be their Stage and Desk Host for everything Siege. I hosted for ESL all week at last Gamescom, I’m hosting all week again this year and I’m so excited that we’re closing out the biggest games event in Europe with Rainbow Six Pro League Finals on the main ESL Arena stage! I can’t wait!
Gamescom is the largest European trade fair for the video games industry, held in Cologne, Germany; also the home of ESL. It’s the second largest gaming event behind the Asia Game Show (by exhibition space and number of visitors), and as a result has played host to esports events before. Gamescom 2014 played host to ESL One Cologne 2014, the Counter-Strike Global Offensive Major in which a then strong Ninjas in Pyjamas took home $250,000 in prize money. It’s a sign of the growth of the Rainbow Six scene that it will be the game of choice on the main stage this year.
Esports Insider says: Gamescom the venue for Rainbow 6 Pro League Season 2 finals is going to be hype. It’s sure to bring a good crowd in and with $237,500 on the line — there’s a whole lot to be playing for. Great to see R6 continue its growth as it expands with the Asia Pro League as well.