Rainbox Six Siege‘s The Six Invitational 2021 has been postponed indefinitely due to new travel restrictions. Tournament organizers cited regulations that prevent non-EU members from entering the France, where the competition was set to take place, as the reason for the delay.
Originally set to start on February 9, this year’s edition of the Six Invitational was going to be held in Paris instead of Montreal due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. No replacement date has been set for the tournament as the pandemic hasn’t been contained in the majority of EU countries, Canada, and the United States.
Six Invitational 2021 postponed to a later, unknown date
Ubisoft announced the delay earlier today, citing the French government’s move to prevent non-EU travelers from crossing the border that went into effect at the end of January. The move, which is only one element of France’s latest push to fight the COVID-19 outbreak, would have prevented a large number of teams from attending the event.
“Following this announcement, Ubisoft, alongside our partner Live Nation, have been working tirelessly to find solutions to organize the physical edition of the Six Invitational 2021 in Paris, France in February, as initially planned,” the French company wrote on its website. “However, we have now learned that LAN esports events are no longer possible in today’s context, despite the strict sanitary measures put in place.”
The border announcement was made only days before teams were set to leave for Paris. Spanish Rainbow Six Siege team Vodafone Giants captain Glen “Lunarmetal” Suryasaputra said that he doesn’t blame anyone for the decision and that they had already “expected the worst.”
“It was honestly heartbreaking to hear,” he said in a post on siege.gg. “To have spent a backbreaking amount of time and effort, working THROUGH the holidays in order to prepare for the biggest tournament of our lives only to have it be for naught at the last minute was really hard to swallow.”
Suryasaputra questioned why the event was scheduled to happen in Europe with how poorly the “COVID-19 situation” was developing in the region. “I can think of five better countries to have it in,” he said. “Aside from the logistical challenges, I think it’s a small price to pay considering that the alternative was (is) to not have the event at all.”
The COVID pandemic has continued to prevent any esports organizers from hosting in-person events and that doesn’t look like it change anytime soon. It’s likely that most major events in 2021 will have to be held online or not at all.
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