Virtus.pro to play in 2023 Siege esports season under own name

Virtus.pro today announced that it hass been allowed by Ubisoft to participate in the 2023 Siege esports season under its own name.

The organisation was hit by Ubisoft sanctions following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in Feb. 2022, having been owned by ESforce Holding. ESforce's parent company had been VK, the largest Russian social media site and their CEO had been sanctioned by both the European Union and the United States government.

As a result, Virtus.pro's Rainbow Six Siege team played in the 2022 Siege esports season under the "Outsiders" name.

In Sep. 2022, Virtus.pro announced that Armenian citizen Aram Karamanukyan had taken over as CEO after he said that he had purchased the Virtus.pro trademark and assets.

That change was questioned by several esports professionals as a potential a loophole for Virtus.pro to avoid sanctions.

In response, Valve seemed to drop their sanctions against VP, with their name reverting to Virtus.pro after they also had to go under “Outsiders” in the Dota 2 Rankings. This was because they were evidently considered an Armenian company and not a Russian one. 

In Dec. 2022, Nikolai Petrossian, former CEO of ESforce holdings, was suddenly announced as CEO of Virtus.pro -- effectively assuming his old role once more.

“We made a decision to go forward with a more experienced CEO ... Nikolai was an obvious choice,” said Karamanukyan via the Virtus.pro website.

Now, Virtus.pro has seemingly been allowed to return to its own name in Rainbow Six Siege esports ahead of the start of the 2023 season next week.

“We have taken multiple steps over the past year to be able to comply and compete under the Virtus.pro banner and have done a great job documenting every step we took,” said Petrossian on the Virtus.pro website.