Rainbow Six Asia-Pacific League details unveiled

Ubisoft released details on its upcoming Rainbow Six Asia-Pacific League, the third of four regional leagues as part of its new global competitive structure.

Unlike the leagues in Europe and North America, the Rainbow Six Asia-Pacific League will be split into two divisions which operate differently.

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The North division will consist of teams from Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, and Singapore. The same 12 teams will compete in this region throughout the season. 

The South Division will be split once more into Oceania and South Asia. Eight teams will compete in the Oceania division. The South Asia division, comprised of teams from India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan, will compete in a series of open online tournaments.

The new league structure is certainly complex. At the international level, the leagues are similar. There are three majors each year – this year just two due to COVID-19 – and all regions send four teams. The Six Invitational takes the top 16 teams in cumulative standings and then opens up four more spots to open qualifiers. But beyond that, each region starts veering off in its own direction, none more so than APAC.

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The European and North American Leagues were modelled fairly similarly. There are some key differences, the NA League sees two teams relegated each year while the European league sees just one, but the Rainbow Six Asia-Pacific League shows a willingness from Ubisoft to get creative with structure. That creativity could continue into Latin America as well.

The developer seems to be settling into a release pattern of every Wednesday until all four regions are announced. As such, it’s sensible to expect the Latin America regional league to be announced on June 3rd.

Esports Insider says: Different regions require different league setups to be successful. Riot Games’ willingness to change format based on region has helped League of Legends esports expand quickly. With four location-based leagues and different formats for each, the Rainbow Six esports rollout is proving to be one of the most comprehensive esports structures to date. If it can successfully operate all four leagues, hats off to Ubisoft.

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