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Rainbow Six Siege esports plans outlined for 2020-2021

Rainbow Six esports is about to undergo some major changes for Years 5 and 6 and those are set to take effect after the Season 11 Finals in May.

Ozzie Mejia

February 16, 2020 1:54 PM

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The Six Invitational is on the verge of coming to a close, but so too is the Raibow Six Pro League as everybody knows it. On Sunday, prior to the Six Invitational Grand Finals, Ubisoft announced that Rainbow Six Siege esports was about to undergo some significant changes and the format as it currently stands is about to shift into something that's more region-focused.

As revealed during a special panel at Sunday's Six Invitational, the current plan for the Rainbow Six Pro League is to finish up Season XI, which is set to conclude in the Grand Auditorium Anhembi in San Paulo, Brazil on the weekend of May 16-17. After the champion is crowned there, the Rainbow Six Pro League will essentially cease in its current form and instead focus on a regionalized program across the game's four main regions: North America, Latin America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. Each region will be in charge of the specifics of their own program, including partners, formats, and how it feeds into the greater global esport.

All four regions will run concurrently across four quarters, with the first three quarters each hosting a major for every region's top team. The final quarter will see every team race to the regional finals and determine relegations, with the world champion set to be crowned at the Six Invitational. Yes, the Six Invitational will remain in place and take place each February, as usual.

Teams will take part in an overhauled points system, one in which teams are rewarded for winning their majors. However, it's a system in which major winners are not guaranteed placement into the Six Invitational. Cumulative performance across the competitive year will matter, so if a team starts hot and sputters to the finish, they might miss the Invitational cut entirely.

Here's the current calendar for Years 5 and 6 of Rainbow Six Siege esports:

2020

• May 16-17: Pro League Finals Season XI in San Paulo, Brazil
• August: Major in North America
• November: Major in Europe

2021

• February: Six Invitational in Canada
• May: Major in Europe
• August: Major in North America
• November: Major in Asia-Pacific

Look for more details regarding the future of Rainbow Six esports as Season XI continues to unfold. We'll certainly hear more about what's to come as the Pro League Finals for Season XI approaches. For more, be sure to check out the Rainbow Six website. And for more on the future of Rainbow Six Siege itself, be sure to check out our recent hands-on with Operation Void Edge.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?