Sports News
The “Six Invitational” is being held at Fenway’s MGM Music Hall, showcasing the continued growth of esports.
With a prize pool of $3 million, the “Six Invitational” is one of the clearest examples of high-level esports continuing to gain traction with mainstream appeal. And for local Bostonians, 2025 provides the first time they can get an up-close view at the phenomenon.
After previously being held in Montreal, Paris, Stockholm, and São Paolo, organizers for the annual event decided it was time to bring the competition to a U.S. market. The result is that the world championship for the game “Rainbow Six Siege” is being hosted inside the MGM Music Hall at Fenway between Feb. 14-16.
“I think it’s been a dream and a desire to bring such an important esports event to the U.S., and specifically to the East Coast,” said Robbie Douek, CEO of BLAST (the global esports media network that is a co-organizer of the event).
While other East Coast U.S. cities made bids to host, Boston was eventually awarded the distinction.
“They stood out from everyone else,” Douek said of Boston.
“When you couple together the sports culture and the entertainment culture that Boston has, it’s made for it,” he added. “And then if you bring in MGM, Fenway, just having the historic home of the Red Sox right next door, it’s so perfect to build storylines and script from that. It makes it a really beautiful place to be.”
Douek’s reference to “storylines” is built into the competition. Along with the gaming, “Six Invitational” is — like any international sports event — defined by passionate fans.
“You feel the atmosphere, you feel the noise, it’s a spectacle,” Douek explained.
“I just think anyone that hasn’t experienced it before, this is an opportunity,” he said of Mass. residents who might have a curiosity to see what it’s about. ‘”Esports are often misunderstood. You go in there and you are actually part of a show. I love live entertainment, I’ll watch anything live. But this is fantastic. Last year we had a [marriage] proposal in São Paulo. So you never know what you’ll see.”
“Rainbow Six Siege,” the latest game in the longstanding “Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six” series, has been the chosen game of choice for the competition since it was first organized in 2016 (one year after the game was released).
From an original prize payout of $100,000, the figure has grown to its astounding current total of $3 million.
“It’s interesting, is not just about the figure, but what is the message with this figure?” said Ubisoft’s executive Francois-Xavier Deniele. “It’s a massive investment from both Ubisoft and BLAST, and also with the help of the community because it’s a part of a percentage of what they are also spending into the game. We are taking a part of the revenue and it’s going back to their favorite player. So it’s also a way for the fans to support their team and their player.”
As for the stakes, it’s a readily identifiable format for any sports fan.
“It’s the world championship of our game,” said Deniele. “So it’s the pinnacle of one year of competition across the world.”
When a champion is formally crowned on Sunday, it will be the true culmination of a highly competitive process.
“We have more than 300 professional teams from all over the world who played during one year of competition with multiple live events around the world,” Deniele said. “One in Manchester, one in Montreal, and at the pinnacle are the 20 best teams from around the world coming together to see who is the best, who can take the hammer, which is the trophy of Rainbow Six, and raise it in front of this massive crowd.”
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