World esports ‘Rainbow Six Siege' video game championship comes to Boston
'The people of Boston recognize some good competitive action when they see it,'
said Leo Matlock, chief business officer at BLAST, the global esports media network that co-organized the invitational.
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The event drew just over 7,000 visitors, including some from Brazil and France, home to
this year's top two teams, Matlock said.
'For the fans, this is like getting a ticket to the Super Bowl,' he said.
'Rainbow Six Siege' is a military-themed game in 'Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six' video game series. Players assume the roles of different operatives in a fictional counter-terrorist organization called 'Rainbow.'
'There's a combination of elements that make this game very unique in the market,' said François-Xavier Deniele, vice president of global esports and competitive gaming at Ubisoft, the publisher of 'Rainbow Six' and the co-organizer of 'Six Invitational.' 'The map is destructible, so the map can completely change during the round.'
Matlock compared the game to chess, explaining that 'no two games ever really look the same.'
For Arthur Gomes Oliveira, a professional esports player from Brazil who plays on Boston's Oxygen Esports 'Rainbow Six' team, the game started off as a fun hobby before it became his full-time career.
Oliveira, who goes by the gamer name GMZ (pronounced 'Gomez'), has been playing for over 8 years and practices for 10 hours a day in preparation for competition.
'It felt nice to compete on the world stage,' he said. 'This is my ninth event, so I don't really feel the pressure anymore. This is my job.'
Oliveira's team made it to the quarterfinals before
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Esports is a rapidly growing industry with an increasing commercial market. Earlier this month the International Olympic Committee
BLAST and Ubisoft collaborated with marketing and visitor services nonprofit Meet Boston to plan and organize the 'Six Invitational,' and representatives from both companies were excited about the prospect of returning.
'It's a great moment for 'Rainbow Six' and Ubisoft for esports,' said Deniele. 'We were welcomed very, very positively by the fans and we can't wait to come back to the U.S., maybe to Boston.'
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