3 players from Parabellum Esports announced that they were exploring options today, those being LaXInG, Skys, and Phish. Each posted a twitlonger explaining their particular circumstances and what options they are open to for the future. Those posts are listed here:
Spiff and Spiker have not indicated if they are also exploring options as well publicly as of writing.
Opinions and Speculation
I’m seperating this so as to make a clear distinction between what is undeniable and publicly known, and what my read on the situation as a whole is. Everything beyond this point are my thoughts and opinions with no insider knowledge. Only my conclusions drawn from publicly available knowledge that I have been able to find again and link to.
A common thread through the twitlongers is the idea that Parabellum and it’s ownership group, React Gaming Group, are reconsidering their future in Rainbow Six and esports at large. This comes as the ‘esports winter‘ starts full force with organizations like TSM and FaZe in clear and public financial distress while other legacy organizations like CounterLogic Gaming have collapsed entirely. Within Rainbow Six we’ve seen organizations like Astralis, who acquired Disrupt Gaming for the R6 team, and TENSTAR leave or shut down. Parabellum feeling the effects of the economy is not surprising. The announcements of the players comes after a slew of announcements from Parabellum staff, management, and content creators being released or leaving the organization including key members like Chris Lama. The org also left the Rocket League scene, the latest of their dropped teams. The organization left ESL Impact, leaving their Brazilain CSGO team and their female Siege team was dropped as well.
While not being discussed as such, this is major downsizing. It indicates the possibility of the organization shutting it’s doors until the economy improves, or perhaps permanently. Were Parabellum to leave Rainbow Six, it leaves the NAL in an even more precarious situation as a closed circuit. With organization interest in franchised leagues at an all time low combined with the esports winter, Ubisoft and BLAST will be hard pressed to find an organization interested in buying into the NAL or even fielding a team. This either forces the NAL to become an open circuit, or drop to 7 teams, both of which drastically impact the North American scene.
Given all this, Spiker, Spiff, and coach Vivid are likely exploring options as well, though nothing has been confirmed publicly.