Photo via Ubisoft/@ItsmeERROR
Rainbow Six Siege’s first international event of the year has started off on the wrong foot for many of the teams. Heroic had to deal with 28 hours of travel with no sleep, Elevate had their visa applications denied, and three Brazilian rosters were forced to compete from Mexico.
All of these issues cropped up the week before the Charlotte Major – Siege’s first international event with a crowd since the start of the pandemic. What should have reunited fans and players has started with a long list of controversies.
With all Team oNe, FURIA Esports, and w7m esports playing from Mexico, the three Brazilian teams are playing with 80ms pings, while their opponents in Charlotte are playing with just 1ms of latency.
“We have one ping and they have around 70-80. So, for us still feels like LAN. It’s hard to say how much of a disadvantage they are at, we’re not there to see it, but if it’s actually 80 ping, I would say the LAN players have quite an advantage,” Paul “Hyper” Kontopanagiotis said to SiegeGG’s Hunter Cooke in a Ubisoft organized press conference.
"It's been an unfortunate situation. I mean, there's been quite a few unfortunate situations heading into this event. It kinda is what it is, sucks that they have to play on that ... I definitely believe it's a disadvantage for them," said Troy “Canadian” Jaroslawski.
The players’ posture seems quite clear: although the affected parties are in a bad spot, it is what it is. Players can do nothing to solve the issue.
Brazil’s reaction was fierce. FURIA Esports’ player Diogo “Fntzy” Lima considers the situation “sabotages” the affected teams, per his tweet.
Igor “igoorctg” Santos tweeted about the possibility of playing in “the same ping”, which has ended up with various professionals using the #SAMEPING hashtag.
The amount of responses was overwhelming.
So far, the Brazilians have secured some great results despite the issue. Team oNe won against Dire Wolves (7-2) but lost to Oxygen Esports (4-7), while w7m esports won (8-6) against DarkZero Esports and Team Liquid cleaned up shop against CAG (7-2). Liquid secured visas in time for the Major, and are playing from Charlotte.