Rainbow Six Siege community speaks out against decision to host Major in United Arab Emirates

pcgamer.com:

Rainbow Six Siege recently announced its roadmap for year seven, which is first of all a big number and a reminder of just how right Ubisoft managed to get things with this competitive FPS. Siege is in rude health, has an established community that (mostly) loves it, and in recent years this most gruff spec-ops experience has been making moves towards a more inclusive cast and atmosphere: multiple in-game operators are LGBTQ+, as are several prominent members of the pro scene.

All of which is necessary context for the news that Ubisoft has announced one of this year's three Rainbow Six Siege Majors will take place in the United Arab Emirates. The game's three marquee events in 2022 will be held in the United States, the UAE, and the last in Asia.

The UAE is a country where being LGBTQ+ is still a crime, and the legal punishment for homosexuality could be death (albeit this has not been applied in modern times). It also discriminates against women and migrants, has an appalling human rights track record, targets and abducts (at best) critics of the regime, and retains capital punishment. The UAE is ranked 2/100 by the equality index: the second-worst country in the world in terms of legal rights.

This hasn't gone down well with the Siege community. The basic argument is that the country's culture is not compatible with how Siege has presented itself, and that this is ultimately an example of esportswashing. It's like greenwashing, but with cheering arenas and human rights violations instead of ad campaigns and trees.

PC Gamer spoke to a prominent member of Siege's pro scene, who asked to remain anonymous, about the decision. They explained that people felt Ubisoft had been less-than-straightforward about announcing this,