Five reasons why Rainbow Six: Siege could be a great eSport

After spending the best part of a day playing Rainbow Six: Siege it dawned on me that this could be something special. The returning terrorist hunt mode is sure to please many of the older series fans and the multiplayer is superb. But the real reason why I think Siege could be the most exciting release this winter is because of how well it could work as an eSport. Obviously for that to happen it would need a fair amount of support from Ubisoft, but the core gameplay is perfectly suited to high stakes competitive play.

So here are five reasons why Siege could be a great eSport.

1. Operators

At the start of every round you are able to chose from one of the operators, who are effectively the different classes in Siege. Each of these has a unique ability, whether that be a large riot shield, a special kind of grenade, or a massive hammer to smash down walls. Selecting a good team composition is vital to success much like in any MOBA or even the upcoming Call of Duty: Black Ops 3, which has a similar system. Being able to draft lineups like this means that teams may be able to find combinations that work really well and then find counters to those lineups to form a overall metagame. Having a ever changing meta is undoubtedly one of the reasons that MOBAs have seen such success, because it never remains the same for too long and therefore rarely becomes boring.

2. Slow Pace That can quickly change

When playing Siege’s multiplayer mode it became quickly apparent that the pace of the game was usually very slow, until the attacking team made a move. In almost every round I played this was the case, with the defenders setting up shop and hoping to find a early pick off and the attackers planning an all out assault. Then when they do move in it broke into all out carnage, with walls being destroyed all over the shop, bullets flying everywhere, and more than a few dead bodies. This change in pace makes Siege perfect as a spectator sport, it allows the casters to analyse what is happening during the start of the round, picking out the strategies that are being used and then they can drop into all out hype casting as the fight breaks out, which should create some incredible moments.

3. Team Play

While playing together as a team is the key to success in any competitive shooter, in Siege it is vital because you can never be sure of where the opponents will attack from. If your team is defensively holding a room you have to trust that they have your back covered, as the attackers could theoretically enter from almost anywhere. If you are attacking and going in from multiple locations you need to be sure you team mates will go in at exactly the same time, otherwise you will get massacred. Communication and working together is the only way to succeed so a team that can work together will always be better than a team of individual superstars.

4. Destructible environments

One of the most marketable features of Siege is the destructible environments. While levels are not fully destructible, the majority of walls can be broken in a manner of ways. This opens up tons of possibilities on both sides of the field, many of which won’t be thought of until long after launch. Not only does seeing new, almost inconceivable strategies make any eSport entertaining (just look at things such as the infamous fountain hooks at TI3), but it also creates an extra level of complexity that the best players have to consider. Have they thought of every possible weakness in their plan and how to counter it? Have the considered what the enemy team is doing, or could they have a surprise lined up? Seeing strategies like this play out is one of the most enjoyable aspects of eSports. Also, watching someone smash the hell out of a plane with a giant sledge hammer is always fun.

5. Its not Call of Duty or Counter Strike

The two biggest competitive shooters out there right now are Call of Duty and Counter Strike, yet both are incredibly different to one another. CoD has the non-stop fast pace, while CS has a slower, more tactical style. Siege happily sits slap bang in the middle of these two and as a result offers something fresh and new. The all out high octane action similar to CoD is most certainly present, but the slower more tactical and objective based approach from CS is also there thanks to the planning and recon stage at the start of every round. Combining the best areas of the two biggest shooters out there, while also adding in the new ideas of creating your own defenses and the previously mentioned destructible environments, means that Siege should be able to capture the fans of both series and as a result a large eSports following could form around it.

Time will tell if that does happen to be the case but from what I have played, Rainbow Six: Siege could quite easily become a top eSport with the right circumstances, and I genuinely hope it does, because it will be great to watch.