Rainbow Six Siege is a game that has experienced atypical growth in its now almost-three-year lifespan. Instead of launching with a huge amount of players that dwindled as time progressed, it started with humble numbers and has continued to grow ever since. 2018 has seen its highest ever concurrent player count, and things are showing no signs of slowing down.

It's clear that free-play days, tiered pricing schemes, and regular content additions to Rainbow Six Siege have all contributed to its sustained growth, but another factor can't be overlooked: eSports. Ubisoft marketed and fine-tuned the game's eSports potential from its early days, and it's a move paying off in dividends now. There are multiple professional leagues on the global stage, and this year saw the introduction of a league north of the US border with the Rainbow Six Canadian Nationals.

When it comes to organizing an entire league in a country that didn't have local representation at the top level, there's evidently plenty to do. In Canada's case, there's a vast landscape with urban hubs like Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal separated by serious mileage. Northern Arena met this challenge head-on, and we asked CEO Carl-Edwin Michel exactly how the company formed an eSports league:

We had a vision of starting small and growing the league organically, but from the beginning we received a ton of applications from interested teams. More than 40 Canadian teams registered for the Open Qualifiers, and this interest has helped create a real buzz around the league. Even gamers in other countries have been asking for similar initiatives in their regions! We always knew that there was a huge Rainbow Six community in Canada, and the initial interest in R6 eSports has motivated us to keep doing more.

The Rainbow Six Canadian Nationals may be in its inaugural season, but that doesn't mean the teams are lax in preparation: Carl states that many teams are utilizing physical coaches, posture specialists, and even nutritionists to contribute to their performance. These have a tangible impact on a team's performance, he says, and may just help them get one hand on the tournament's prize pool of $15,000. The live finals for season one takes place on August 4, 2018, so it'll be interesting to see if the winning team is one that used such an in-depth approach to preparation.

In regards to similar initiatives for the future, Northern Arena runs events for its tournaments out of local cities like Montreal and Toronto, so it's unclear if it would be involved in countries where gamers expressed an interest in forming competitive leagues. Rainbow Six Siege has a much further head start in the USA, where the prize pools are larger and the competitors more numerous. From the perspective of Ubisoft Canada, though, growing the game in its own backyard via eSports was a natural progression:

Esports is one of the most important and fastest growing industries globally and its popularity is on the rise in Canada. While we have a robust Rainbow Six eSports program globally (from grassroots to Pro League), we found that Canadian players were underrepresented in the system. We are proud to partner with a renowned Canadian organizer like Northern Arena to continue to build Rainbow Six eSports in Canada and offer a competitive eSports playground for Canadians, by Canadians.

Gamers interested in tuning in to the finals of the Rainbow Six Canadian Nationals can do so on August 4, 2018, at 4:00 PM PST. The second season will launch in late September.

Much like Rainbow Six Siege itself, it looks like the Canadian Nationals is going through a humble beginning - but only time will tell if the Canadian-focused league mirrors the game's post-launch rise of interest.

Rainbow Six Siege is available now on PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.