Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six® Esports Scene – Six Invitational 2018 Reaches Record Viewership Figures
In a mesmerizing Grand Final, showcasing the potential of the Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six® esports scene, PENTA Sports crowned World Champions
Singapore — February 23, 2017 — Today, Ubisoft® announced that the Six Invitational 2018, the premier event of the Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six® esports scene second year, as reached unprecedented figures. The Six Invitational celebrated the anniversary of the Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Siege release and brought together fans, pro players, developers and streamers, in Montreal, Canada, birth city of the game.
With 321,000 peak concurrent viewers, the Six Invitational 2018 Grand Final between PENTA Sports and Evil Geniuses set a new record for Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six esports, a figure 184% higher compared to the last year’s inaugural Six Invitational Grand Final in February 2017. Additionally, from February 13-18, more than 6.2 million hours were watched across all channels.
The Six Invitational 2018 brought together the sixteen best Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Pro League teams from across the world, competing for an unprecedented prize pool of $500,000.
Rainbow Six Pro League – Escalation – EP1: Stay on Top
This second year of Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Pro League has been the year of PENTA Sports, as the European team won two Pro League Season Finals out of three and this Six Invitational 2018. To win the latter, the team led by captain ‘Fabian’ Hällsten had to defeat the reigning World Champions, Evil Geniuses, supported by their North American home crowd.
In an unforgettable Grand Final, the best proof of the Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six esports potential, PENTA Sports successfully overcame a 0-2 lead for Evil Geniuses, to win 3-2 via a last map concluded in overtime by Niclas ‘Pengu’ Mouritzen in a 1v2 situation.
The Six Invitational 2018 also hosted supplementary and original showdowns, including a Showmatch featuring a selection of Brazilian players facing uL Gaming from China, a territory represented for the first time in a Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six esports event.
Now that the second year of Rainbow Six Pro League is over, it’s time for a third year to begin. The Year 2018-2019 will start with the Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Pro League Season 7, a three months long transition season that will pave the way for the new Pro League format, announced back in January: each Year will from now on be composed of two six-months long Seasons. A format starting with Season 8 in June 2018. You can find more details on on new Pro League format here.
The next Major is also coming up soon. Before the 2019 edition of the Six Invitational, the Six Major Paris will gather the sixteen best Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Pro League teams worldwide, in Paris, France, this August.
Pro League Season 8 will be the first showcase for the slew of significant announcements made during last week’s Six Invitational 2018. The Pick & Ban mode, available in custom PvP games for all players, will allow each team to prevent their opponents from choosing two Operators of their choice for the entire match. The attacker’s team will also be banned from choosing those two Operators for the match, adding more excitement and unpredictability into the game. The match structure will also be updated, as for each map the defender’s team will play all of its 5 rounds as defender before switching to attack for potentially 5 more rounds, depending on the score.
Inspired by real-world counter-terrorist organizations, Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege puts players in the middle of lethal close-quarter confrontations. For the first time in a Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six game, players will engage in sieges, a new style of assault where enemies have the means to transform their environments into modern strongholds while Rainbow Six teams lead the assault to breach the enemy’s position. Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege gives players unprecedented control over their ability to fortify their position by reinforcing walls and floors, using barbed wire and deployable shields, laying mines and more, or to breach the enemies’ position using observation drones, setting charges, rappelling and more. The fast pace and uniqueness of each siege sets a new bar for intense firefights, strategic gameplay and competitive gaming.
About Ubisoft
Ubisoft is a leading creator, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment and services, with a rich portfolio of world-renowned brands, including Assassin’s Creed, Just Dance, Tom Clancy’s video game series, Rayman, Far Cry and Watch Dogs. The teams throughout Ubisoft’s worldwide network of studios and business offices are committed to delivering original and memorable gaming experiences across all popular platforms, including consoles, mobile phones, tablets and PCs. For the 2016–17 fiscal year Ubisoft generated sales of €1,460 million. To learn more, please visit www.ubisoftgroup.com.