Ubisoft, the company behind Rainbow Six Siege, is changing the way it approaches esports ahead of the Six Invitational 2022 next week. The French company will consolidate its internal esports teams into one global team, according to a post it published on Tuesday.
“By consolidating our team into a single, global organization, we can establish a clear direction for all our regional activities, taking into account regional and local specificities; strengthen the relationship between fans and players; and collaborate with more teams at Ubisoft in the most efficient way possible,” Ubisoft’s newly appointed Senior Director of Esports and Competitive Gaming, François-Xavier Deniele, said. “Our hope is that this decision will increase our agility and streamline our decision-making processes to better respond to shifts in our industry.”
Ubisoft is changing the way it approaches esports
Previously Ubisoft had multiple internal teams across various regions handling operations for games like Rainbow Six Siege, For Honor, Brawlhalla and Trackmania. Those teams launched initiatives like the Six Masters Iberia for the Siege community in Spain. Those events will now fall under the purview of Ubisoft’s global team with support from third party organizers like FACEIT. It’s unclear why this change is happening and how it’ll impact Ubisoft’s various communities going forward.
Deniele also said that Ubisoft is working to organize live events “whenever the situation will allow it.” The Six Invitational 2022 was recently moved from Canada to Sweden after the COVID-19 Omicron variant forced local governments to place new restrictions on gatherings within Quebec. The pandemic has forced Ubisoft to host the majority of their Siege regional pro leagues online outside of a few major events. The North American Pro League was held in a bubble in Las Vegas in 2020.
Ubisoft has been going through other changes as well. Last week, it announced the shuttering of Hyper Scape, a futuristic battle royale. It’ll be unavailable starting Apr. 28. The company has also been in the midst of multiple sexism and abuse scandals, alongside other major game industry publishers like Activision Blizzard. A great exodus of employees has been reported partially due to how the company has responded to allegations of sexism and abuse.
