Following a number of high-profile esports organisations dropping out of the competitive Rainbow Six Siege scene, Ubisoft has made the decision to merge the US and Canada divisions into a single North America Division.
While Ubisoft claims the move is being done to “ensure that all North American players are competing at the highest level of competition,” this is also certainly a workaround to make up the numbers in the US, where organisations such as eUnited and Tempo Storm recently pulled out. The same merger will be happening with the Challenger Leagues that sat under the top divisions in the US and Canada. Ubisoft says more details about how the NA Division will work will be released after the Six Invitational in February.
According to a coach of one of the Canadian teams, the merger will see teams from the region given the ultimatum of relocating to Las Vegas before the NA Division begins in March or face losing their spot in top-tier Siege.
Ubisoft says it will be “actively working with the four Canada Division teams” – 2021 Six Invitational qualifier Altiora, LiViD Gaming, Mirage, and Nordik – to support their transition into the merged NA league, but it’s unclear if this is in a financial sense.
I can answer those (part of CAD) but dont know what is and isnt public thanks to the super vague announcement post above
I can say we are forced to have an answer if we can move in less then 2 weeks, and actually move cross country in less then 2 months. Really fun!!!!
— NDK || oGrievous (@o_Grievous) January 5, 2021
The NA region was only split into Canada and US divisions less than a year ago with the end of the Pro League, and now the two nations are being pulled together once again.
While the split helped develop Canadian talent – with Altiora becoming the first Canadian team to play at a Six Invitational next month – it did draw criticism from teams for the lack of games and coverage they were receiving.
However, with this re-merging of the two divisions, the future of the Canadian teams in particular have been thrown into doubt.