Six Invitational returns to Montreal and welcomes back a live crowd for 2023

Hold on, we're going home.

Image via Ubisoft

The Six Invitational, the prestigious yearly world championship for Rainbow Six Siege esports, is returning to its home in Montreal, Quebec, Canada for the first time since 2020 for SI 2023.

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Additionally, SI 2023 will welcome in a live crowd for the final three days of the event, from Feb. 17 to 19, inside the familiar Place Bell. This will be the first live crowd for SI since the same 2020 event in Montreal.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which began shutting down LAN and offline competition in esports starting just a couple of months after the conclusion of SI 2020, Ubisoft was unable to host the yearly event in Montreal due to Canada’s restrictions. Montreal, which serves as Ubisoft’s North American home, had previously hosted the event from 2017 to 2020.

SI 2021 was hosted in the month of May for the first time in Paris, France, and featured no audience at all. Even though many of the Brazilian teams nearly were unable to attend that year due to France’s travel restrictions, two squads from Brazil ended up in the grand finals with NiP coming out on top over Team Liquid. SI 2022 was held in Stockholm, Sweden this past February, with TSM claiming a stunning victory to give NA its second SI trophy in three years.

Qualification for SI 2023 is primarily determined through the Siege Global Standings, which awards points to teams based on their performances at regional league splits and the Majors. Eight teams have already directly qualified. DarkZero, Astralis, XSET, and Oxygen will represent North America, Wolves Esports, Rogue, and G2 will represent Europe, and w7m esports is the sole team currently representing Brazil.

Multiple top teams including Team BDS, Liquid, FURIA, FaZe, Soniqs, and more will look to lock in their spots at SI 2023 at the Jönköping Major beginning Nov. 21. After the season’s end, four more teams from regional qualifiers will round out the 20-team field at SI 2023.

SI 2023 will officially begin on Feb. 7 with the group stage.

Author
Image of Scott Robertson
Scott Robertson
VALORANT Lead / Staff Writer
VALORANT lead staff writer, also covering CS:GO, FPS games, other titles, and the wider esports industry. Watching and writing esports since 2014. Previously wrote for Dexerto, Upcomer, Splyce, and somehow MySpace. Jack of all games, master of none.