Rainbow Six Siege content creator Beaulo has announced his decision to join the ranks of professional players and attempt to find a team to compete in the upcoming season of ESL’s Pro League. He announced on Twitter that he has new team-mates, some of whom formerly represented Excelerate Gaming in the competition.
The news has excited his fans, as he is one of the most popular content creators in Siege, and created debate in the community as to how one of the best aimers Siege has seen will fare in competitive play.
The move has the potential to provide the North American scene with a new star, and possibly even the world scene with a contender to the traditional gods of the game. Long dominated by Europeans, with G2’s mix winning the majority of tournaments over the past couple of years, Siege recently crowned a new champion at Pro League as CIS’s Team Empire won in G2’s place, confirming the regional dominance many have suspected.
Many consider Beaulo to be comparable to the likes of G2’s Juhani ‘Kantoraketti’ Toivonen and Pengu in terms of his raw mechanical skill, and while Siege is a very tactical game there is also a lot of room for pure aim to shine through in the right setup. While it’s true Beaulo will have to learn a lot about team play, he has spent thousands of hours in the game already, and the fact no NA side has managed to integrate him yet does speak to a weakness in the in-game leaders in that area potentially.
The dilemma
The decision taken by one of Siege’s most popular personalities is admirable in light of recent conversations that have taken place in other games, and even Siege itself. Twitch and YouTube content creator George ‘KingGeorge’ Kassa is one of the Beaulo’s peers and the more popular faces out there, and retired from competitive play after becoming part of the last NA team to win a Major title, back in 2017, claiming he prefers the streaming life.
In games such as Super Smash Bros Melee and Ultimate the same conversation is happening now, as top professionals complain about low prize money and lost subs when they travel to compete. In a scene as small as Smash that would make sense, with the player more focussed on surviving than pure wins, but we’ve seen massively wealthy Fortnite streamers say the same thing about travelling to tournaments with hundreds of thousands of dollars on the line, as the lost stream revenue outweighs the potential winnings.
The decision by Beaulo to potentially change focus and try to compete is a brave one in that context, with 735,000 subs on YouTube and 300,000 on Twitch. The lifecycle of a competitive player varies from game to game, but it does seem that in esports with a lower salary ceiling compared to CSGO, Dota and League of Legends (the three giants) there is a tendency to lose the drive at some point, especially if you have already achieved what you set out to in terms of wins and titles.
It’ll be interesting to see how his new teams gets on, but hard to judge the player individually when he is part of a roster that hardly set the world on fire before leaving Excelerate. His popularity will no doubt help them get a sponsor, as you can see from a year ago linked above where Pengu discusses his chances, but for Beaulo the real challenge is proving himself more than just a name to pin your brand to, as he looks to join the ranks of players to conquer the twin worlds of streaming and esports.
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