Ubisoft launch major changes for Rainbow Six Pro League

Ubisoft, the developer and publisher of Rainbow Six: Siege, have announced major changes to their top flight esports competition.

The changes range from simple tweaks to the infrastructure and seasons of the competition, to flat out new monetisation options. The announcement was made just after Immortals announced their entrance to the game’s competitive scene, with the acquisition of a Latin American team.

The first part of the changes introduces a new format for the Pro League, splitting each year into two six-month seasons, a departure from the current three-month seasons. Further to that, Ubisoft will be organising a “Major” in between each season, currently the Six Major Paris and Six Invitational, as more LAN events, as well as further pushing the DreamHack events that feature the game. Ubisoft has also confirmed that the league will continue until at least May 2020.

Further to that, Ubisoft are introducing a “revenue share-base Pilot Program”, featuring eleven teams competing in the four regional divisions; Europe, North America, Latin America and Asia-Pacific. Ubisoft’s press release states that “the goal is to provide organizations and pro players additional revenue directly from the game and help foster a more stable environment.” Effectively, they’re opening the ability for players to purchase in-game branded items of the teams they support.

The pilot program is set to operate through the entire 2018-19 competitive year, over seasons eight and nine of the Pro League. The teams in the pilot program will be offered a “charm” and a weapon “skin” and receive 30% of all revenue from items sold. Further to that, all Pro League branded items will see 9% between the upcoming Six Invitational 2019 prize pool and 21% be distributed to the teams in the program.

The eleven teams involved in the program are:

PENTA Sports (Europe) Vitality (Europe)
Evil Geniuses (North America) Rogue (North America)
SK Gaming (North America) mousesports (North America)
FaZe Clan (Latin America) Team Liquid (Latin America)
Ninjas in Pyjamas (TBA) Immortals (Latin America)
Fnatic (Asia-Pacific)

 

Esports Insider says: Big news as Rainbow Six: Siege looks to continue to position itself as a top esports title in the FPS market. The teams involved in the pilot program are all well renowned and respected organisations, so all-in-all a good move from Ubisoft.