Rainbow 6 Siege: Prize money disparity only tells fifty percent the story

Female illustration in esports (the discipline, not the man or woman) has been a little bit of a warm matter in modern weeks, because of in section to ESL’s development of an all-feminine CSGO league, and some rather spicy responses from some sections of the conventional talent pool. With 2021 in the guides, we considered it would be intriguing to search at a several video games, and examine specifically how a lot was received by male and woman gamers, with a small assist from the awesome folks at Liquipedia, who have compiled some figures, commencing nowadays with the earth of Rainbow 6 Siege.

For those people who really don’t stick to the activity, Siege is a tactical, objective-based mostly 5v5 shooter produced by Ubisoft, with an extremely numerous vary of people making up the forged. Like CSGO, there are fraggers, guidance players and IGLs, and lets for a range of various talent sets. It is even a sport that has witnessed female illustration in the ‘main’ or male aspect of the esport in the past, which indicates Siege is forward of the pack when it arrives to breaking down gender limitations.

Many thanks to @LiquipediaR6 on Twitter, we can seem into the present-day problem when it will come to segregated Siege, and how woman gamers are earning in comparison to their male counterparts. The numbers are even broken down by area too, which lets us to glance at not just how male players do by comparison, but which location is at the moment the finest if you are a woman Rainbow Six Siege participant. 

The first factor to position out is that proper now, Brazil is dominating the male facet of the recreation, and the exact same appears to be real for woman professionals. The prime Brazilian lineup took home 10 situations what the leading NA aspect managed in successful around the training course of 2021, with $20K earnings for the Black Dragons aspect, as opposed to the GuGuDolls $2K gained above the study course of 12 months.

When it arrives to EU and APAC, it is truthful to say they are far nearer to NA than SA, with the Delta Venture taking property $2,300 in Europe and APAC’s NotConfirm obtaining received $3.1K in the exact same time time period. Having said that, as anybody who follows Siege, or even esports is aware of, these numbers are unbelievably minimal compared to male-dominated games, wherever a one player can bank extra in a month’s wage than the Black Dragons received in their overall 12 months of engage in.

By comparison, the top male South American staff took home just above $1.1M in 2021, and involving the major 3 earners in the male video game, all of whom are from SA, there was close to $2M of the total $10.9M claimed. Surprisingly the fourth best-earning facet was Saudi’s Al Fateh, who took property $341K in prize income around the program of 2021, whilst almost certainly not producing quite a few headlines exterior of their location.

It need to be recognized that there are other strategies players get paid out, from income to sponsorship bargains with brand names and even community appearances, so these figures only really signify the sum gained in competitiveness. To get a superior thought of how this functions for Siege, and the value of prize revenue, we sat down for a chat with Siege.gg journalist Hunter Cooke, and asked him wherever female gamers in Rainbow Six at present stand, at minimum in his position of look at.

“As significantly as women in the scene, to my information, Rainbow Six has a loaded historical past of advancing women,” Hunter explained to us. “Goddess experienced an exceptional Professional League operate and is nonetheless invested in the scene. Marmalade has been observed as a major NA Challenger League participant this calendar year, and that is just North The us. Teams like Delta Venture are also investing closely into women’s leagues in Europe, TOs like CCS and Job Eris have created great initiatives to be inclusive and foster a safe and sound spot for girls to blossom competitively, even if sometimes they drop quick.”

When asked about the substantial disparity in prize income, he was brief to point out that Siege, like lots of esports, has a a little wonky distribution in that space general.

“Prize pools in Siege are really inconsistent. Acquire, for example, the Sweden Important: FaZe Clan won $200,000 for profitable the occasion, NiP $80,000 for inserting second. On the other hand, CYCLOPS Athlete Gaming gained the Japan League, and the equivalent of all around $130,000, substantially far more than the finalist of a Significant. As a normal note, the prize swimming pools in Rainbow 6 do not make perception when status is factored in.”’

In actuality, from Hunter’s position of view, the prize pool comparison only tells 50 percent the story, with Siege forward of the pack when it comes to esports taking away boundaries for women of all ages to go professional. “I don’t assume the deficiency of a important prize pool indicates that Siege struggles in advancing women of all ages — in context, it is been a single of the a lot more progressive esports — but you can find always function to be completed. Ladies deal with problems distinctive to their gender, and that isn’t shifting devoid of a comprehensive societal overhaul about generations.” 

“I do not consider prize pools are that massive of a aspect in women’s illustration in the esport because of to their sheer inconsistency in the course of Rainbow 6 and the financial investment from other features of the scene,” he went on. “I’m not indicating that ladies have it terrific in Rainbow 6, this scene suffers from sexism the exact same as everywhere you go else in the globe, but there is certainly a obvious energy from essential gamers in the scene to advance ladies, and it can be not visible from a glance at prize swimming pools.”

Even with that in intellect, it is honest to say the gap in earnings for Siege is currently a chasm, and this is one particular of the online games with a much better record when it will come to aggressive equity. With Siege’s key gatherings acquiring important, normally million-greenback-plus prize pools, it have to be depressing as a female player to know that the most effective workforce in the globe took property likely $3K apiece for their victories in 2021, a lot less even than pros in online games like Smash Bros.

On the other hand, people who know consider the scene to be generating good strides, and it is good to say Siege is considerably from the worst esport in this respect. Regardless of whether that is an indictment on the point out of the scene general, or basically much more evidence that resolving troubles like racism and sexism has to transpire on a broader stage, alternatively than just in sports or esports, will depend on your stage of perspective, but it is simple that even Siege has a good deal of area remaining for growth.