The Rainbow Six: Siege Invitational wrapped-up yesterday but whilst it was in full swing, our own Sam Bishop was out in Montreal to gather the nitty-gritty of the event.
When speaking to Siege esports Director François-Xavier Dénièle about the changes to the Pro League and the fans and players alike were perceiving, Dénièle said, "both parts of the feedback were positive because it is now much clearer to follow our pro league. So, in terms of visibility and communication with the community it is simpler. For the player it allows them to plan everything in advance. It is more challenging as they are playing a lot and have less personal time but at the same time, we are still working a lot with them to find a common ground".
Dénièle also spoke about the revenue splitting system Ubisoft implemented shortly before the invitational, "what we introduced just before the Six Invitational with the road to SI was the ability for the fans to support the players. We decided that we would redistribute part of the revenue back to the players for the cash prize but also to cap it so we could spread it out over the whole scene over the rest of the year".
On the topic of getting players and fans to be more interactive, Dénièle talked about how important player engagement is to Siege, "we made the decision to try and involve more and more people to at least try and enjoy some kind of competition. That is why we will invest more on the local competition as they are really close to the market, whilst continuing to develop our online presence by having more and more tournaments every week".
We also got to ask Dénièle about how balancing Siege's characters works, his answer shows just how important Siege's pro scene is to the development to the game. "We are really close to the production, so we can see how esport is affecting the game and how the game is affecting the esport. We need to find compromise together to ensure we have a game for everyone".
How do you think the newly implemented changes to Siege's League format will play out in the long-run?