Wildcard Gaming and its Australian-based Rainbow Six Siege roster won’t be able to attend the Six Invitational next month due to travel restrictions, Ubisoft announced today.
Despite Ubisoft’s attempts to work with the Australian government, the team wasn’t given permission to travel.
“In order to comply with administrative requirements as well as the local authorities’ safety guidelines, the timeframe to organize teams travel to the Six Invitational is particularly tight this year,” Ubisoft said. “The event is now too close for us to organize the arrival of a new team to replace Wildcard Gaming.”
Wildcard will be given one percent of the SI prize pool as if they were knocked out in the group stage with a top-20 placing.
This news leaves OCE without its only representative at SI and whittles the APAC region down to a mere three teams. There are now 19 teams that are planning to travel to Paris for the Invitational, which will be held on LAN. There will be strict COVID-19 guidelines at the event, though.
COVID-19’s effect on esports has been massive and hasn’t been limited to Rainbow Six in general or Wildcard in particular. Canadian Division team Altiora accepted an NAL license from Ubisoft in the CAD-U.S. Division merger, but since the org’s team qualified for the Six Invitational, the logistics of obtaining visas and making it to Las Vegas on time for the reported quarantine period necessary for the NAL to finally progress to LAN is impossible.
The Six Invitational will take place from Feb. 9 to 21.
