Canada's top gamers face off in Montreal for $15K in prizes

Canada's top video game players are facing off tonight in Montreal, at the Olympia Theatre on Ste-Catherine Street.

Davide Bucci, a 19-year-old professional gamer from Beaconsfieldin Montreal's West Island, and his fourteammates are after the top prize of $10,000.

"It's my life, so I do everything I can to be the best," said Bucci, who is known in the gaming world as Fox A.

The gamers will all be playing Rainbow Six Siege, a first-person shooter game Buccihasbeen playing since it was released in 2015.

Developing pro gaming in Canada

Rainbow Six Siege is created by Ubisoft's Montreal studio, and it's generated a worldwide following.

The tournament is organized by Northern Arena, a company that specializes in gamer events in Canada.

The Rainbow Six Siege competition has been going on since June.

Carl-Edwin Michel, the founder of Northern Arena, said he hopes tournaments like this will help developa professional gaming industry in Canada, so talented gamers don'thave to move to the United States or Europe.

"What we're doing as much as possible is to create that platform where they can stay here and have a salary," said Michel.

Most of the players are from Montreal, but there are also gamersfrom Ontarioand British Columbia in town for the tournament.

Michel, who grew up in Montreal but now lives in Toronto,started the company in 2015.

He said audiences flock to the tournaments in 2016, 4,000 attended a tournament at the Bell Centre, and another 22 million watched online.

"That's the beauty of e-sports: because you're connected to that online platform you can reach a lot of people," Michelsaid.

The Rainbow Six Canadian National Finals get underway at 7 p.m. at the Olympia Theatre, at 1004 Ste-Catherine Street East. The event is free.