Ubisoft has announced that its moving its August 2022 Rainbow Six Siege Major outside of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) after an outcry from the tactical shooter’s community. The new location for the major has yet to be determined, according to a Tweet by the French studio.
“We also hear loud and clear that members of the international Siege community question this choice, and we have taken the decision to move the Six Major of August 2022 to another Rainbow Six Esports region, with the exact location yet to be determined,” a tweet by the Rainbow Six Esports Twitter account reads.
The Six Invitational is moved outside of UAE
— Rainbow Six Esports (@R6esports) February 22, 2022
Ubisoft emphasized that the “safety and wellbeing” of its events participants is the company’s primary concern. Many members of the Siege community were quick to stand against the decision to host a LAN due to the UAE’s discriminatory treatment of the LGBT community. A Change.org petition asking Ubisoft to move the event had garnered over 13,000 signatures at the time of this writing.
“With the inclusion of LGBTQ+ members of R6:S talent, we believe as a collective that this decision is short-sighted, dangerous and backwards to the developing ideology of esports, Rainbow Six: Siege and its community,” wrote Siege community member Ellie Chapman. “Within SI 2022, there was an emphasis on the importance of Rainbow’s community, and this announcement is borderline insulting to our identity. We demand a change.”
Ubisoft was quick to respond to the outcry after making the initial announcement to host the Major in UAE on Feb. 20. The Siege community has celebrated the change and are proposing a number of new locations for where the August Major can be held. Many hope that Brazil, a region with a surplus of incredible Siege talent, will get a LAN to reward its teams for multiple years of Siege success.
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