Articles from July 2023

Game developer Ubisoft has revealed new skin bundles for Rainbow Six: Siege, featuring some of its esports ecosystem’s leading teams.

These esports team bundles are a part of the R6 Share Tier 2 programme and can be acquired from the in-game store’s dedicated esports section.

R6 Share, previously recognised as the Pilot Program, represents a revenue-sharing agreement between Ubisoft Entertainment and specific esports teams in Rainbow Six. The programme offers unique uniforms, headgear, weapon skins, and charms to players, all of which are themed around the BLAST R6 tournament and the esports teams taking part in it.

The revenue acquired from the sales of these items is subsequently distributed among the teams participating in the programme. In this case, for each team branded-bundle sold, R6 Share member organisations will receive 50% of the proceeds from their respective team-branded items.

Moreover, for every R6 Share Esports Set sold, R6 Share member organisations will receive 20% of the proceeds, with the remaining funds dedicated to supporting the Rainbow Six esports circuit.

The 10 teams commemorated in this collection include North American esports organisations Beastcoast, Oxygen Esports and Knights, Brazilian esports organisations Black Dragons and MIBR, UK-based esports organisation MNM Gaming, South Korean esports organisation Sandbox Gaming, Armenia-based esports organisation Virtus.pro, Oceanic Rainbow 6 team Wildcard Gaming and Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Wolves Esports.

In the initial Tier 1 drop of the R6 Share programme, pro team skins for various in-game characters were introduced, showcasing popular esports teams BDS, DarkZero, Elevate, FaZe Clan, KOI and Soniqs.

The Tier 2 drop comes as all eyes are set on Rainbow 6 Esports’ Stage 2, with the second part of the season scheduled to kick off on Friday, 1st September. Since its introduction in March, the Rainbow Six esports ecosystem has witnessed the inclusion of nine regions in a brand-new format.

For Stage 2, the format will remain unchanged, providing teams with the same pathway to secure their spot for the BLAST R6 Major Atlanta, which is set to commence at the end of October.

Esports tournament organiser BLAST has commenced a formal destination selection process for its major esports events in 2024 and beyond.

BLAST said it will work with interested locations to discuss hosting opportunities for its 2024 events. The organiser is offering ‘over five’ current hosting opportunities, with Counter-Strike series BLAST Premier and Rainbow Six circuit BLAST R6 named as examples.

The organiser’s other hosting opportunities were not mentioned, but BLAST has produced EPIC Games’ Fortnite Champion Series (FNCS) events in 2023, whilst also hosting its own CS:GO Major, the BLAST.tv Paris Major. In the past BLAST has also facilitated Apex Legends, VALORANT and Dota 2 esports events.

James Woollard, Head of Commercial Solutions at BLAST, claimed in an announcement that previous BLAST events have resulted in ‘economic impacts’ of over €22m (~£19m) for host locations. More than 60% of attendees to these events come from outside the host city, he claimed.

The tournament organiser has previously held events in Paris, Madrid, London, Copenhagen, Lisbon and Washington D.C.

“BLAST has built a reputation of delivering world-class arena events that produce tangible impacts for the host destination and exciting experiences for fans,” commented Woollard.

He continued: “Hosts have benefited from economic impacts, esports’ truly global and passionate fanbase, increased international exposure, and premium content and broadcast exposure showcasing the host destination to tens of millions of viewers. With 2024 on the horizon, which is shaping out to be one of our biggest and best years yet, we are looking for further opportunities to create incredible events at leading locations around the world.”

BLAST isn’t the only prominent tournament organiser to highlight the economic impact of hosting esports events. For example, Riot Games and the city of Raleigh, North Carolina reported that the 2023 LCS Spring Finals generated $2.74m (~£2.16m) of ‘direct economic’ impact for the city.