The competitive Rainbow 6: Siege community just took a massive hit this week as several organizations have announced their departure from the scene following announcements from Ubisoft which have upset the majority of the professional player base. One of these teams was Evil Geniuses: arguably the most popular and longest-standing organization – read on to learn more!
Evil Geniuses offered a dedicated fanbase, multiple strong finishes and a reputable name in the esports industry. Although they’ve been underperforming recently, nobody saw this coming. Following a Twitter post, all of their players are now free-agents hoping to be picked up by another organization: they’ve confirmed that the legendary squad will be sticking together.
Sadly, Evil Geniuses aren’t departing alone – the organizations of Luminosity Gaming and Team Reciprocity have also hung up their coats and announced a release within the same week, leaving the community confused as to what’s going on.
So, why exactly have three organizations dropped out?
Year 5 (2020) for competitive Rainbow 6: Siege is apparently going to be turning everything on its head, as qualifying for LAN events will be handled in a different and seemingly more exclusive manner. Currently, the upcoming changes are unclear, but what is clear is Ubisoft’s poor ability to communicate with pro teams.
Luminosity’s Hyena broke an NDA and got incredibly personal, offering the following insights:
Ubisoft delayed our meeting multiple times leaving us in the dark not knowing if we should pack up and leave our team house. And with the covid situation we needed to know ASAP as our home cities were being put on lock down and we wouldn’t know if we could return home. After threatening to go public with Ubisoft’s blatant lack of respect for us as players and individuals, Robb Chiarini finally decided to give me a call and basically said I was being disrespectful toward Ubisoft employees.
…..my teammates and I are stuck in Vegas and out of a job.
From what’s stated above, it seems that Ubisoft decided to increase the relegation criteria for next year’s Pro League up to sixth place – essentially kicking out the likes of Luminosity together with the other organizations.
Yung from Evil Geniuses offered similar words through his own Twitter too:
We are currently not in PL from my understanding. I don’t know if that changes if we manage to get an org or not. Nothing has really been communicated to us well.
The fact that Ubisoft did not communicate this early has cheated players of the chance to look elsewhere for opportunities, pulling the rug from right beneath their feet.
I’m no expert on Rainbow 6: Siege, but this is certainly not the way to treat professional players and organizations. Hopefully, all of the rosters will be picked up by new organizations – either way, this shouldn’t have happened like this.
