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Rainbow Six Pro League adds new map, operators and format in hopes of driving revenue

By Derek Helling

PARIS, FRANCE - NOVEMBER 04: Ubisoft logo is displayed during the 'Paris Games Week' on November 04, 2017 in Paris, France. Ubisoft is a French company developing, publishing and distributing video games. 'Paris Games Week' is an international trade fair for video games and runs from November 01 to November 5, 2017. (Photo by Chesnot/Getty Images)
PARIS, FRANCE - NOVEMBER 04: Ubisoft logo is displayed during the 'Paris Games Week' on November 04, 2017 in Paris, France. Ubisoft is a French company developing, publishing and distributing video games. 'Paris Games Week' is an international trade fair for video games and runs from November 01 to November 5, 2017. (Photo by Chesnot/Getty Images) /
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Ubisoft has rolled out a bevy of new content for Rainbow Six that will affect all players, from casual to pro league.

Amidst the Season Seven Finals for the Rainbow Six Pro League, Ubisoft introduced to the world a new map, two new operators and an overhaul of the format its Pro League will follow going forward. All of the changes are aimed at making the league a sustainable venture for all of its stakeholders.

New map

The new map, which will replace “Café” when the downloadable content goes live on Tuesday, May 22, is called “Villa.” It’s an iconic Italian luxury home, the back story of which is that it housed a family whose nefarious deeds involved forging art. The map includes two floors plus a basement and the surrounding exterior. Entrances include the basement, a garage, and a crypt tunnel with wine cellars. The map was designed to be balanced but competitive, with lots of potential for roaming. The map was also designed to play fast for both attackers and defenders. One of the most-interesting facets of the map is that one of the new operators, Alibi, has been there before.

New operators

Fans of the franchise got a teaser “introduction” to Alibi earlier this month with a short video, but now the full details about the new defender have been revealed.

Alibi’s unique gadget has three parts to it. Those are three decoys which she can place on the map, pick back up and re-deploy all her discretion.

Each of the devices emit a 3D hologram of herself which are essentially indistinguishable from the real operator. Alibi’s strengths as an operator rely on counterintelligence and trickery. When attacking operators come into contact with one of the three decoys, the attacker(s) will be pinged for five seconds. The gadget can be destroyed by attacking the base and can be disabled with EMPs.

Alibi’s passive ability enables the identity of fellow defenders who run out of the map to do so without being identified by the other team. The other team will be aware that a player has run out, but will be unable to identify exactly which operator has done so. Alibi is rated a three for speed and comes with an automatic shotgun, a shotgun pistol, grenade and shield in her loadout. The shield theoretically enables users to place one of decoys behind it, making it much more difficult to destroy.

Fans also got a teaser for the other new defender, which now balances out the number of attackers and defenders available in the game, whose name is Maestro.

Maestro’s gadget is the “evil eye.” These are two cameras he can plant anywhere, which bulletproof when an accompanying on-device shield is closed and are able to see through smoke. The user playing with Maestro can opt to open the shield and emit a laser beam. There are two risks to doing so, however.

Repeated firing of the laser will result in a cool-down phase and the cameras are vulnerable to bullets when the shield is open. The evil eyes can also be disabled with EMPs and destroyed with explosives or Sledge’s hammer.

Maestro comes with a three rating for armor. Like Alibi, he comes equipped with a full-auto shotgun and pistol shotgun. His loadout also contains barbed wire and a shield. Users playing with Maestro will be able to opt to bunker down in a spot on the map, watch the evil eye feed and “snipe” an enemy target in relative safety.

The usage of both of these new defenders will vary greatly from match to match in the Pro League, thanks to a new wrinkle that is being added to setting up the matches.

A new phase of setting up matches will be added which is called “Pick and Ban.” Prior to selecting operators, each team will be able to select two operators, one attacker and one defender, that will be banned from use by either team for the duration of the match. Teams will then proceed to select desired operators from the remaining contingent of available options. That isn’t the sum total of the changes to matches, however.

The current structure of the pro league will be expanded from a three-month to a six-month format. The schedule will be filled in each zone with teams playing a total round-robin schedule, meaning each team will play all the other teams in its zone every week. The new “play days” will feature matches that are expanded as well, with matches that are best-of-ones and have a new 10-round format with no possibility of overtime. Each team will play five rounds as the attacker, have a “halftime” and then play five rounds as the defender. Every match will be streamed and retain a point system, three points for a win, one point for a tie and zero points for a loss.

At the end of the six months, the top two teams in each zone will represent their zones at the final events. The next four teams will automatically continue to the next season. The team with the seventh-most points will proceed to relegation matches against opponents from The Challenger League. The team who finishes dead last in each zone will automatically be replaced with the top team in the Challenger League standings, no relegation matches necessary.

Majors will continue to follow the same single-elimination, best-of-three with a possibility of overtime format. However, a system similar to “Pick and Ban” will be employed regarding maps that is designed to encourage teams to play a greater variety of maps in their preparation and throughout the season.

According to Rainbow Six Brand Director for Ubisoft Alexandre Remy, all the changes and content have been rolled out to improve the structure of the league for everybody involved.

“Switching from three months to six months, when we started looking at it, there were two priorities,” Remy explained. “One was getting back to the league system and not a tournament system. The league system is the most fair and you play the most matches, so for us there was no question that was the best format. The second priority is we have seen the best synergy in the pro leagues when we are close to releasing new content. I think it’s best to finish a season right before you change the meta. It’s all about designing an ecosystem for the esport that is working in good collaboration with the game updates.”

“The next big step in how we are going to develop and mature this is how we develop possibilities for everyone in the ecosystem to sustain themselves,” Remy added. “Revenue is going to be a key part of the future. How do we make it so that for players, organizations, when they do invest their resources and time confident that they are going to get a return? A year ago we introduced charms that you can buy in game that have the logos of teams. Part of the revenue was given back to those organizations. We are going to be expanding upon that with details to come soon. Visibility for others in the game is going to be how we build value in the ecosystem. We are talking about passion and that’s cool but passion without profit isn’t going to last. In order for this to last we need organizers to feel that Rainbow Six is an organization that creates sustainability and wealth.”

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There’s a lot of new changes and content for Rainbow Six fans and players to ponder, and it’s likely that some will have strong reactions. That’s exactly what Ubisoft was hoping for, as it’s the investment of the whole community that will keep the entire structure profitable and relevant for years to come.