With the conclusion of the BLAST R6 2024 season (at Montreal Major won by Brazilian esports organization w7m Esports), the league revealed some details on what the ecosystem under its ongoing partnership with tournament organizer BLAST for Rainbow Six Siege esports will look like in 2025.
The next season will kick off in May 2025 with a LAN Kick-off event called Reload, tentatively set to take place in Brazil. Reload will be followed by two stages of regional leagues, then a break in August. The 2025 season will continue with a November Major, followed by Regional Finals and the Six Invitational Last Chance Qualifiers, concluding with the Six Invitational, where a 2025 World Champions will be crowned.
Ubisoft said that this newly updated structure for R6 Esports will provide “players with time to rest and recharge while also offering opportunities for Tier 2 teams to break into the competitive scene.” The league is also working on enhancements to the Tier 3 and grassroots programs, which will be revealed at a later date.
The league also announced a new streamlined global league structure that will pare down the nine regional leagues to four:
- EML (Europe, MENA & Turkey): featuring teams from Europe, MENA, and Turkey.
- SAL (South America League): merges Brazil with South Latin America.
- NAL (North America League): North America, Central America, Ecuador, and Columbia.
- APL (Asia Pacific League): features three subdivisions—APAC North—Korea & Japan together; Asia (South-East and South Asia area); and Oceania (Australia, New Zealand, and Polynesia).
Each regional league will feature 10 teams competing through a round-robin format followed by a six-team playoff per stage. At the end of Stage 2, the top four teams will qualify for the Major. In December, the combined standings of Stage 1 and Stage 2 will establish the six teams making it to each regional final where they’ll compete for a regional championship.
APL competition will be divided into three subdivisions: APAC North, Asia, and Oceania. These subdivisions will play through an online group-stage and playoffs to find the top teams of their division. During Stage 2, the best teams from each subdivision will compete in a LAN Major Qualifier for a spot to represent the region at the November Major. In addition, the Top 2 from each sub-division will also qualify for the APL Regional Finals where six teams will compete for the APAC championship.
The league also announced 18 of the 20 partnered teams for 2025 (shown above) and revealed an Affiliate Program to expand support to up to 23 organizations worldwide. The programs give teams a share of profits from in-game team branded items, with plans to introduce new item categories such as operator portraits, drone skins, and pro-team charms. Five affiliates will be chosen in each region—NA, EU, and SA, along with eight affiliates in APAC. Affiliates automatically join the program once they qualify for their respective leagues, with the exception of APAC, which has distributed slots based on its respective sub-divisions, according to the announcement.
More details on changes coming to Rainbow Six Siege esports in 2025 can be found in this official blog post or this YouTube video.