EGLX was this past month in downtown Toronto, and we here at Canadian Game Devs set up a booth in the community room where we met so many of you amazing readers and supporters. But we also got the opportunity to talk to some Canadian game developers working on some exciting new games and projects happening in the Canadian market.

The first of these interviews is with Adam Climan, eSports Communication Manager at Ubisoft. Stephan sat down with Adam just next to Rainbow Six Canada Nationals Grand Finals stage at EGLX to talk to him about Ubisoft’s eSports initiatives, the Rainbow Six Siege eSports events at EGLX and in the future. Here’s their discussion.

[Stephan] What’s your favourite part about running the eSports scene at Ubisoft?

[Adam] Honestly just watching it grow. It’s such a thrill to be able to work on these great titles, specifically Rainbow Six which is very obviously today our lead, but just being able to work and build the community and see the passion that so many teams bring to playing our games competitively, to see the passion and engagement that comes from our fans who are watching whether it be live or at home, really it’s just been a thrill to build something so new.

[Stephan] What would you say is the most challenging part of your job in running the eSports scene at Ubisoft?

[Adam] Good question. You know, like with anything else eSports is new and growing. There are definitely some improvements that I think we can still make to be an even better program in the Canadian market. I think there aren’t really difficulties per se as just key learnings, and that’s really where we’re trying to listen. “What can we do better? How can we create a better event overall?” and just learn from our players, learn from our fans, learn from our viewers. And that to me is just, you know, always being on and having boots to the ground. That’s probably the hardest part, not that it’s hard in and of itself, but just recognizing that we have to be so close to our community to make sure we’re giving them what they want.

[Stephan] eSports is usually a male-dominated space, what is Ubisoft doing to help make their eSports community as open and accepting as possible?

[Adam] Good question. Obviously, we welcome players of all backgrounds, of all genders, anyone is welcome to participate in our leagues. We definitely try to promote openness, we try to promote the fact that we are there for everyone and we promote ourselves through a variety of different events. We try to bring ourselves to a lot of different regions around the market, making sure that we’re really accessible.

So for us, it’s not about trying to just focus on any one group, in particular, it’s basically everyone is welcome. We are spreading ourselves, we want to welcome you and play and it’s a great environment for which to do so for all gamers.

[Stephan] In a lot of games that have a big eSports scene, sometimes players are worried that the pros influence the balance and changes to the game more than the community, do you find any challenges where if the pros are giving you some feedback that the team might not think is better for the game, how do you walk that line and weigh that feedback?

[Adam] To be fully transparent I don’t work on the game that’s really something that our Rainbow Six team is best to answer because they’re the ones at the helm of the game ourself. I can say comfortably, though, that we take feedback very seriously. We work very closely with our players to make sure that we’re building the right product based on what their feedback is, as to what gets enhancements and what we rule out. So I can’t speak to the balance and how they work behind the scenes, but I can definitely say it’s a very big part, an integral part, of how we’re progressing with Rainbow Six.

[Stephan] The Fourth Invitationals are coming up in February in Montreal, what can players and fans expect from that weekend?

[Adam] If it’s anything like last year it’s going to be a heck of a show. A lot of the best teams in the world are going to be there, you’re going to have a really rabid crowd ready for some great excitement. I’m not working on it myself, but we know the teams that are and I definitely think it’s going to be an amazing show.

[Stephan] Have you been with Rainbow Six’s eSports scene since launch?

[Adam] I’ve been on the eSports scene for about a year now, been with the company a lot longer than that. I transitioned to eSports about a year ago.

[Stephan] What’s the biggest change you’ve seen in your year on it in terms of how Ubisoft approaches the eSports scene for Siege?

[Adam] The biggest change is really learning from the community. I think bringing something new to the market, exposing Canadians to our brand of entertainment through eSports. That’s really been the biggest change. I definitely feel we’ve upgraded in a lot of great ways our program this year versus last year. We’ve learned an awful lot and even though last year was a great experience overall, I think to be able to bring this program to EGLX to open it up to more fans and more players and just be more accessible was one of the nicest things we could’ve done this year for the Canadian market.

[Stephan] Is there anything else you want to add about Rainbow Six Siege and Ubisoft’s eSports scene?

[Adam] We definitely want our fans to know that we’re here for you guys, we want to do something great for the Canadian market. We definitely want to make ourselves more accessible. But at the end of the day, we’re constantly moving to create better programs and there’s still more great stuff to come.