Ubisoft unveils major shake up of Siege Pro League, split Canada and US Division with Las Vegas base

Ubisoft has laid out their plans for the future of the Rainbow Six: Siege North American Pro League, which will see the region split into US and Canadian Divisions in the biggest change to Siege esports since the game's release.

In a lengthy blog post, Ubisoft revealed the tournament structure for not just this season, but next, while also teasing in a series of tweets further changes to the global structure for the esport scene.

The new North American League will look very different to what came before. (Picture: Ubisoft)

Under the new system, the North American Pro League season will feature three majors each season, a Regional Finals and the end-of-season Six Invitational Global Championship - which will bring together the sixteen best Siege teams in the world to battle it out for ultimate glory.

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The revamped US division will be played offline, with all eight teams based in Las Vegas, Nevada. A five-week league will run before each major, with games being played in standard best-of-three map format. The top four teams from each mini-league will qualify for the following major.

The league with feature a slew of familiar teams plus a few new ones to replace the three esport organisations that recently departed the game. Returning are current world champions Spacestation Gaming, as well as TSM, DarkZero Esports, eUnited, and Tempo Storm. They will be joined by Susquehanna Soniqs and Disrupt Gaming after success in the Challenger League and Oxygen Esports, who picked up the old Team Reciprocity roster.

Due to scheduling, the first season under the new format will be shorter than what will follow. (Picture: Ubisoft)

The season will start in March and run until February of the following year, except in 2020, when due to the later start the first Pro League season under the new format will contain only two Majors - to be played in August and November. Regional Finals will be held in December each year, with the Six Invitational Global Championship scheduled for February.

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The Canada Division will be run in "lockstep" with the US tournament schedule, compared to the US's eight just four teams will compete. Teams will earn their place through online qualifiers scheduled for May 30th - 31st. Canadian teams will get the opportunity to compete in the three majors that make up the season, by fighting for their spot in the North American League Playoff. Canadian teams can also earn Global Standing Points - which can earn them a spot at the Six Invitational. The Canada Division will be played online.

(Picture: Ubisoft)

There will also be a revamped Challenger League - an online league consisting of eight teams per region - with teams able to earn promotion into the Pro League. The highest performing team in the Canadian and US Challenger League will face off against the lowest-performing team from their respective region at the Regional Finals - win and they will take their spot the following season.

North America isn't the only region that will be seeing changes in their formats with Ubisoft teasing that there will be changes to both the European and Asia-Pacific regions.

While they are leaving us waiting for more information they did reveal that APAC will be split into a North and South division.

The APAC region is set for changes. (Picture: Ubisoft)

The 2020 North American Pro League season kicks off later this month, for a complete schedule check out Ubisoft's official announcement.