Publisher Ubisoft has announced that its upcoming Rainbow Six Siege esports event, the Six Invitational, will still take place in Paris after gaining authorisation from the French government and local authorities.
The offline event, which commences on May 11th, will take place with no audience on-site and will be under strict sanitary measures, according to the release. The publisher also revealed that all six Brazilian teams that qualified for the Six Invitational have been allowed to enter the country.
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Unfortunately, Ubisoft also announced that Wildcard Gaming will not participate in the Invitational. According to the organisation’s official statement, the Australian government denied the team’s request to leave the country.
As a result, Wildcard will receive one per cent of the $3,000,000 (~£2,172,000) prize pool, which corresponds with a 19th – 20th place in the competition.
To comply with the safety requirements, teams will have to provide a negative PCR test dating from less than 36 hours before the flight, an antigenic test upon arrival in France, and a strict 10-day quarantine period.
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To increase the number of matches and ensure the most accurate seeding before the playoffs, the organiser also updated the event’s tournament format. The Six Invitational 2021 will feature 19 teams split into two groups, with the top eight teams out of each group advancing to the playoffs. In total, 81 matches will be played between the four regions throughout the group stage.
Esports Insider says: This is a big deal for Rainbow Six esports, as LAN tournaments are pretty much a rarity these days. It’s a shame that Wildcard is unable to participate in the competition, however, it is good to see Ubisoft compensate the organisation. Hopefully, the global health situation will soon allow more offline tournaments across a variety of titles to be held.