Banner image: Ubisoft / @capturedbycyga
Astralis today announced its departure from Rainbow Six Siege. This comes after its Siege team's fourth-place finish at the Six Invitational 2023, having to the eventual champions G2 Esports.
According to Astralis' announcement, "the conditions for running a healthy team organization in Rainbow 6 have deteriorated significantly".
Anders Hørsholt, CEO of Astralis, elaborated further:
"We entered into Rainbow 6 and the North American League with high ambitions and the best of intentions, and our US organization has done everything humanly possible to meet these ambitions. However, despite the dedicated and extremely loyal efforts of everybody involved, the development and lack of prospects in the league regrettably make it impossible for us to continue."
In 2022, Astralis were Six Charlotte Major grand-finalists and finished among the top four lineups at the Six Invitational 2023. Moreover, Astralis finished in first place in the North American League 2022 after back-to-back first place finishes in Stage 1 and 2.
Astralis joined Rainbow Six Siege when the Danish organization picked up Disrupt Gaming's roster in Sep. 2021. Now, Disrupt Gaming's R6 Share items have been re-introduced to the shop.
Astralis is the second big organization to recently leave the NAL, following the steps of the 2022 world champion organization TSM. Additionally, XSET recently sold the team's roster to M80, while Parabellum Esports and Mirage released their players.