eSports is a relatively new attraction that has captured the attention of many who enjoy playing video games competitively. They’re a way for disabled people to participate in “sports” and a way for people who are talented in the skills that gaming builds to race to the top.
One of these examples is the game Rainbow Six: Siege, fully titled Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege. This game has been an excellent choice for fans of the war game genre, and today we’ll be discussing the game’s history, how it works, and its competitive eSports scene.
Ubisoft developed the game Rainbow Six: Siege, which has been around since 2015. It was ported to the Xbox Series X and Playstation 5 in 2020, making it accessible if you own either of the latest systems.
But how did this game originate, and what was its development history? It’s evident that team cooperation and intel were a vital part of Rainbow Six: Siege from the start. Some of the earliest available images show default cameras, drones, and other modes of communication. Unsurprisingly, the idea of a siege was also an early part of development.
However, the developers scrapped several vital concepts, things that would have given us a different game. For example, prototypes heavily emphasized the idea of “breaches,” in which teams would have to “hold the line” to avoid losing the battle.
This mechanic was changed in favor of environmental destruction. The issue of reinforcing also contained many ideas that were later scrapped.
We got the game as we know it today through careful selection, scrapping, revising, and testing. But why has this game drawn so much attention from the eSports scene?
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Understanding Rainbow Six: Siege’s General Gameplay and Competitive Ruleset
Rainbow Six: Siege is inspired by counter-terrorist movements. The game revolves around trying to find and destroy the White Mask and encourages team cooperation and strategizing.
The background for the story is pretty complex. Still, the official wiki page for the game has a summary for curious people. “Team Rainbow has been deactivated since 2012. In their absence, many new terrorist organizations emerged as a result. One such organization, the White Masks, came into prominence in 2015 by spreading chaos all across the world, sharing no discrimination with who they terrorize. With their ultimate objective unknown, they become a large enough threat that Team Rainbow was reactivated … in 2018, Aurelia Arnot resigned from the position of Six and was succeeded by Harry Pandey,” as the official Rainbow Six: Siege Wiki says.
This game immerses the player in the story as they go up against other teams in a five-versus-five match. This design choice gives it some light role-playing game elements in addition to the taut, competitive battle system.
Speaking of the battle system, it’s probably why the eSports community took notice early on. Players can choose an Operator from various counter-terrorist movements, and each Operator has different weaponry, training, and combat style.
The game divides Operators into Attackers and Defenders. The former must send out drones to scout out enemies at the beginning of the match, while the latter is in charge of fortifying the area and holding off enemies from their space. Games, as mentioned above, are five versus five, and each player has one life only. This style makes it extremely important to communicate well with your teammates, or you’ll be wiped out quickly by the other side.
Additionally, the game utilizes environmental destruction strategically. It combines that with a bullet penetration system to encourage creativity and tactical advantages versus disadvantages, according to the official Wiki. All these factors combined make Rainbow Six: Siege a game that places communication within teams above all else to achieve victory.
Rainbow Six: Siege has grown incredibly fast thanks to the numerous variables contributing to the game’s strategy. The official Wiki page for the game states that “The game features the “three main pillars” – teamwork, tactics, and tension. Each map features multiple locations for both the Attackers and Defenders to choose from, greatly increasing the importance in conducting surveillance. Each map is designed to be close-quartered oriented and have an emphasis on verticality and destruction.”
These three pillars got the game’s foot in the door with the eSports community shortly after release. Since then, it’s become a mighty beast in competitive gameplay.
Rainbow Six Regional Leagues & The Six Invitational
The developers planned the first eSports season for Siege before the game was even released. At E3, Ubisoft often held matches between community members and used internal tournaments to demonstrate how the game worked.
Following the game’s release, Ubisoft announced a partnership with ESL and Microsoft to launch the first Rainbow Six: Siege Pro League. The first season included Europe and North America, with the first finals in Katowice, Poland, with a $50,000 prize pool.
These regional competitions took place until the third season, the first Majors competition; fans referred to it as the Six Invitational, according to Chanka News Network.
At the Six Invitational, the Pro League made everyone aware that Latin America would be joining them as the third region available to enter. Southeast Asia, Korea, Japan, Australia, and New Zealand joined later that year, too.
Afterward, the top two teams that had won would go to the APAC finals, and the grand finalists of those two teams would go on to the championships.
But it wasn’t an easy journey for any of these teams. To get your foot in the door for the Pro League, you must first earn a high rank in the Challenger league to advance. And that rule remains the same, but with a slight tweak.
Initially, there was a round-robin match between the top two ranking teams to see who advanced to the Pro League, but recently they have changed this rule.
According to the official Siege eSports website, “This has now been simplified for this season as the top-[seated] teams no will no longer be playing against each other. Instead, the top Challenger League team will play the bottom Pro League team and the second Challenger League team will play the seventh-placed Pro League team, with the winners of both games qualifying for the following season’s Pro League.”
This change has made it a little more welcoming to those looking to get into the Pro League and win that sweet prize money.
Conclusion
Though relatively new, the eSports scene for Rainbow Six: Siege has been a point of interest for many in the gaming community – and it’s not hard to see why. Combine a fascinating development history, unique gameplay, and a blooming eSports scene, and you’ve got it made.
This game is the subject of interest for those looking for an intriguing competitive play to add some variety to their lives. We have no doubt that will continue for many years to come.
If you’ve got something to add about Rainbow Six: Siege, we’d love to hear it in the comments!
