Prominent former players, content creators share petition to stop planned UAE Major

_{Image via Ubisoft/@joao_ferreria}

During the Year 7 Roadmap reveal, a Ubisoft spokesperson mentioned that the August Major would be taking place in the "EU or MENA" region. 

But a blog post, pushed to the official @R6Esports account at 11 AM Central time, had a different set of information on the Major location. According to the blog post, the August Major is set to be held in the United Arab Emirates. 

Rainbow Six Siege community reacts to UAE Major

The UAE has a poor record in terms of human rights. The decision and the manner in which the decision was communicated enraged the Rainbow Six Siege community. 

Today — one day after the decision was communicated — the community came together to share a petition to stop the Major from occurring in this location. Current professional players, former professional players, content creators, tournament operators, casters, and many more came together to voice their displeasure. 

As of the time of writing, over 4,000 have signed the petition. 

Ubisoft has not commented publicly on the status of the Major. 

Multiple requests for comment, sent in regards to the current Global Esports Team's business relationship with the merged ESL/FACEIT company (funded by the Saudi Arabian government), as well as in regards to the UAE Major, in concern of "sportswashing", have not been returned. These requests were made before and after the announcement was public.