It’s clear that free-play days, tiered pricing schemes, and regular content additions to Rainbow Six Siege have all contributed to its sustained growth, but another factor can’t be overlooked: eSports. Ubisoft marketed and fine-tuned the game’s eSports potential from its early days, and it’s a move paying off in dividends now. There are multiple professional leagues on the global stage, and this year saw the introduction of a league north of the US border with the Rainbow Six Canadian Nationals.
When it comes to organizing an entire league in a country that didn’t have local representation at the top level, there’s evidently plenty to do. In Canada’s case, there’s a vast landscape with urban hubs like Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal separated by serious mileage. Northern Arena met this challenge head-on, and we asked CEO Carl-Edwin Michel exactly how the company formed an eSports league:
The Rainbow Six Canadian Nationals may be in its inaugural season, but that doesn’t mean the teams are lax in preparation: Carl states that many teams are utilizing physical coaches, posture specialists, and even nutritionists to contribute to their performance. These have a tangible impact on a team’s performance, he says, and may just help them get one hand on the tournament’s prize pool of $15,000. The live finals for season one takes place on August 4, 2018, so it’ll be interesting to see if the winning team is one that used such an in-depth approach to preparation.
In regards to similar initiatives for the future, Northern Arena runs events for its tournaments out of local cities like Montreal and Toronto, so it’s unclear if it would be involved in countries where gamers expressed an interest in forming competitive leagues. Rainbow Six Siege has a much further head start in the USA, where the prize pools are larger and the competitors more numerous. From the perspective of Ubisoft Canada, though, growing the game in its own backyard via eSports was a natural progression:
Gamers interested in tuning in to the finals of the Rainbow Six Canadian Nationals can do so on August 4, 2018, at 4:00 PM PST. The second season will launch in late September.
Much like Rainbow Six Siege itself, it looks like the Canadian Nationals is going through a humble beginning - but only time will tell if the Canadian-focused league mirrors the game’s post-launch rise of interest.
Rainbow Six Siege is available now on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
