- Phase 2 of Rainbow Six Siege‘s revenue-sharing pilot program will include 16 teams, up from 11 last year.
- The program gives participating teams a cut of net revenue from in-game items while also funding the Six Invitational prize pool.
- Teams that participated in the initial wave of the pilot program are not guaranteed a spot in Phase 2.
After rolling out last year’s revenue-sharing pilot program with in-game items based on esports organizations, Ubisoft plans to add more teams to Rainbow Six Siege‘s program.
Ubisoft will expand the program to include up to 16 teams for Rainbow Six Pro League Seasons X and XI, running from June 2019 until May 2020. Each Pro League season typically lasts 3-4 months with a finals event and a couple of months off before the next season. Last year’s original pilot program initiative benefitted 11 teams, including organizations such as Team Liquid 
, FaZe Clan , and Immortals .
All teams will need to apply for the Phase 2 pilot program, including previously-included teams, as Ubisoft “hope[s] to identify the teams, both new and old, who can bring strength and stability to our esport.” The pilot program is for teams from North America, Europe, Latin America, and Asia Pacific, and the process is also open to organizations that are not currently involved in Rainbow Six Siege esports. Ubisoft will use unspecified “third parties” to select the teams for Phase 2, according to an email.
As with the first phase of the pilot program, Ubisoft will sell branded in-game items (such as character and weapon skins) based on the selected organizations. This time around, each organization gets a 30% cut of the net revenue, with 30% of that total earmarked for players. Additionally, Ubisoft will sell branded Pro League items, with 30% of that net revenue split between all pilot program teams.
Related Article: Ubisoft Details Rainbow Six Siege Events Schedule for 2019
Lastly, the Road to the Six Invitational in-game promotion will return in this phase, with 30% of all net revenue added to next year’s de facto world championship prize pool. Pilot program teams who win money at the event will have that contributed promotional share split evenly, with 50% to the organization and 50% to the players.
The original pilot program and Road to the Six Invitational campaign significantly elevated the prize pool for February’s Six Invitational tournament, exceeding $2.5M USD. However, Ubisoft capped the event winnings at $2M, and will use the remainder to help fund prize pools for tournaments and esports initiatives in 2019.
Ubisoft recently announced its events schedule for the 2019-20 Pro League season, which includes the Season IX finals in Milan, Italy, on May 18-19 and Season X finals in Asia in November, along with a Major in August and four Minor tournaments hosted by third-party organizations. Finally, the Six Invitational will return to Montreal next February.
