The fifth annual Six Invitational event will not take place as planned next week in France due to the introduction of an unforeseen travel restriction by the French government. Instead, the event has been "put on hold".
Said Ubisoft in a blog post:
The new border controls had meant a number of teams were unable to enter the country, with previous agreements with the government to hold the event in a bubble now superseded, which have now led to this decision to postpone the event.
The event, which has traditionally taken place in Montreal every year, had initially been moved to Paris, France for its 2021 edition due to the country's then-laxer border restrictions surrounding the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
However, 10 days before the event began, new travel restrictions had been implemented, aimed at curtailing the spread of the new 501Y.V2 "South African" variant of COVID-19.
The new restrictions thus effectively banned all non-EU citizens from entering France and meant that 17 out of the 20 teams competing -- all but BDS Esport, G2 Esports, and Mkers -- were barred from traveling to the country for the Six Invitational.
Giants Gaming captain Glen "Lunarmetal" Suryasaputra expressed frustration at the circumstances.
Giants Gaming captain, Glen "Lunarmetal" Suryasaputra, was understandably frustrated at the circumstances and questioned the decision to hold the Invitational in a COVID-19 hotspot such as Europe:
Australia and New Zealand had been floated as potential host countries when the Six Invitational had initially been announced to have been moved from Montreal.
The two countries then already had plans to hold three other international sporting events -- two of which have been completed (the Indian Cricket team tour of Australia and the West Indies Cricket team tour of New Zealand) and one of which (the Australian Open) is set to start in four days.
In the world of esports, too, the PUBG Global Invitational.S is set to go ahead on LAN in South Korea, starting from tomorrow. There, teams from China, Japan, and Taiwan will be competing remotely (online), while the majority of the other teams will play offline at Studio Paradise in Incheon.
Now, though, should the event be rescheduled for the summer, a number of new possibilities arise.
Firstly, it possibly means a limited crowd will be allowed, with the likely expectation that everyone involved will be mandatorily vaccinated.
Secondly, this could mean Wildcard Gaming will be able to attend after they had previously announced they had been barred from leaving Australia to attend the event due to strict Australian border controls.
Wildcard Gaming's statement on being unable to compete at the since-canceled Invitational.
Rather unfortunately, however, with the current Canadian Altiora roster being replaced by an all-American lineup at the opening of the March transfer window, the Canadians will not be competing at the Invitational or in the North American League this year, with this new US-lineup presumably taking their spot in both tournaments.
This is likely to cause considerable backlash, considering that the new roster had no part in earning the Invitational spot. However, according to Ubisoft rules, it is the organisation that holds the qualification spot and not the roster, which has led to this situation.
Altiora's trial coach of Matthew "meepeY" Sharples.
With a month-long break ahead of us before the pro-circuit kicks off again for the 2021 season, the focus for all parties -- especially those attending LAN leagues in Vegas and Sao Paulo -- will be to minimise the chance of spreading the coronavirus in order to save lives and get both the world and R6 esports back to normal as quickly as possible.
While disappointing that the wait for another international event will be at least six months, the decision from Ubisoft and the French Government is both understandable and necessary for now.
Furthermore, though the Invitational won't be continuing, the related charms, skins, and Esports Packs will still be available via Twitch Drops and we can still look forward to the usual Year 6 and Esports panels in the coming weeks to outline the plans for 2021.