Ubisoft announces Esports and Competitive Gaming as a new global division.
Ubisoft announced the reorganization of its internal Esports team into the Esports and Competitive Gaming department. This department is a newly formed global team that continuously develops Ubisoft’s competitive gaming activities in local territories through regional and local experts.
In addition, the department works towards the common goal of shaping the future of esports and competitive gaming at Ubisoft and fulfilling the company’s mission: enriching the lives of gamers by creating unforgettable and meaningful experiences at all levels of competition.
“Building on six years of experience from our activities for competitive games such as Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege, Brawlhalla, Trackmania or For Honor and with an eye on the development of our industry as a whole, the overhaul of our internal structure will give us the appropriate tools to take the next To start chapters of our journey and shape the future of esports and competitive gaming at Ubisoft,” said Geoffroy Sardin, senior vice president of executive publishing at Ubisoft.
François-Xavier Deniele has been at the forefront of all strategic issues since the early days of esports at Ubisoft. For the past six years, he has led the company’s esports activities in EMEA and has now been appointed Senior Director, Esports and Competitive Gaming.
He will now oversee all aspects of esports and competitive gaming and will guide the team in addressing current and future challenges and opportunities in all strategic areas of esports and competitive gaming.
“We are both proud of what our teams have accomplished across all regions over the past few years and of the milestones we have achieved across our competitive portfolio in such a short time,” says François-Xavier Deniele, Senior Director, Esports and Competitive Gaming at Ubisoft. “Now we are focusing on 2022 and beyond. By strengthening esports and competitive gaming as an essential pillar of the Ubisoft culture, our streamlined internal organization will allow us to gain agility. This will ultimately benefit all of our competitive ecosystems across Ubisoft’s market portfolio.”
The Esports and Competitive Gaming Department is dedicated to:
- Building sustainable and inclusive competitive ecosystems for the Ubisoft portfolio of competitive games, for fans to engage, participate, and for organizations and sponsors to grow within. Whether it’s its most advanced esports scenes like Rainbow Six Siege, Brawlhalla and Trackmania, or other existing and future competitive games, Ubisoft strives to develop each competitive ecosystem to reach its full potential achieved.
- Designing a multi-year plan of competitive activities, tournaments and leagues suitable for all and a clear path from amateur to professional play that inspires and engages players around the world.
- Providing better entertainment and service to Ubisoft audiences through a diverse esports product offering, world-class broadcasting and event production, entertaining content, and a strong local presence that enables local communities to enjoy activities and content based on they are tailored.
- Build new opportunities by involving Ubisoft’s development and editorial teams early on in Ubisoft’s global network of development studios to collaborate on the vision, scope and features of competitive games, as well as in-game revenue-sharing strategies.
- In collaboration with partners and organizations to implement healthy and sustainable esports business models and revenue streams that help create a mature and positive environment for all.
As part of the strategic mission and goals mentioned above, as soon as the situation allows, some of the team’s focus areas are returning to international esports events with live audiences in the coming months and years. In addition, it will continue to invest in the growth of Ubisoft’s existing esports titles. Recently, Ubisoft announced exciting plans for Year 7 of Brawlhalla Esports and will present long-awaited reveals for Year 7 of Rainbow Six Siege during the upcoming Six Invitational. This applies to the game and the e-sports scene.
In addition to the already existing competitive activities of the e-sports titles, the “e-sports and competitive gaming” department will expand the portfolio of games that offer competitive experiences to the fans. Already in talks with the development teams of some upcoming Ubisoft games, the team wants to build a competitive ecosystem for a variety of different game genres. It will build on the success and experience of the R6 SHARE program for Rainbow Six Siege to develop revenue sharing strategies for other projects.
In addition to expanding the portfolio, another key component will be making competitive games more accessible to players. To achieve this, Ubisoft will accompany some platforms to offer a direct and platform integrated plug-and-play competitive experience in the games. It doesn’t matter whether you’re playing or watching.
“Our partnership with PlayStation to have Rainbow Six Siege as part of their domestic Open Series tournaments is a huge achievement and a great showcase for the ultimate grassroots activity,” said François-Xavier Deniele. “It allows a different audience than those who attend our professional and semi-professional events to engage in competitive gaming, and we look forward to multiplying similar opportunities.”
Finally, the broadcast studios in São Paulo, Paris and Las Vegas will also play a central role as venues for Ubisoft’s competitive activities.
François-Xavier Deniele will carry out his new mandate through 5 executives who will implement the vision on a global scale with strategic expertise.
- Nelson Garcia, previously EMEA Manager, Events and Broadcast, has been appointed Associate Director, Esports, Global Live Events & Broadcast.
- Marcio Soares, previously Director of Esports and Community Engagement in the LATAM region, will assume the role of Director, Esports, Global Marketing & Business Intelligence.
- Emeline Berthon, formerly Manager, Esports Communication in EMEA, will assume the role of Associate Director, Esports, Global Communication.
- Che Chou, formerly Senior Director of Esports for the NA region, will be appointed Senior Director, Esports, LATAM, NA, EMEA and will lead regional operations across all three regions with his team of experts. Reporting directly to Che Chou: Rachid Belrhiti as Associate Director, Esports, EMEA, Mauricio Lima assuming the role of Associate Director, Esports in the LATAM region and Alexander Charsky as Associate Director, Esports, NA.
- Wei Yue will be in the global role of Director of Esports, responsible for Rainbow Six Siege game production issues, league operations and revenue sharing strategies for Rainbow Six Esports. This means working with the game’s development team and overseeing the R6 SHARE program and the consistency and integrity of the strategy for the global competitions.