The Belong O2 Priority Level Up Showdown offers a groundbreaking take on traditional ‘one day’ esports events. Two teams of pro-gamers, each led by a celebrity captain, go head to head across a variety of challenges in a lighthearted quest for bragging rights and glory. Flux Broadcast was on hand to capture every knockdown, knockout and elimination.
Our aim with the Priority Level Up Showdown was to stay true to the passionate, community-led gaming and esports fanbases, whilst also bringing gaming competitions to a wider audience. This brief, alongside restrictions put in place for COVID-19 led to some truly innovative solutions.
The gaming side presented an interesting technical challenge. The events took place on a range of games which didn’t have traditional observation platforms, offering a cinematic feed of the action. We built software and hardware into the arena to create four different game-specific observation systems, allowing us to satisfy the gaming community by placing the action front ‘front and centre’. Alongside this, we used cinematic studio and player cams, and a mixture of studio setups to highlight the fun, banter and rivalry between the two celebrity captains. We also mic’d each player individually, whilst also allowing them to communicate as teams in the standard way.
Our Xpression GFX system enabled us to pull data directly from game scores provided by the tournament admins and our VT and replay system captured game footage which we then used as a background on all FF GFX.
Alongside the full creative package including graphics, script, ROS and remote broadcast elements, we also built a bespoke esports gallery system with socially distanced seating to meet COVID safety requirements. Recording ‘as-live’ where possible to keep an upbeat, energetic feel to the event, we wanted all of the contributors to enjoy the day and that definitely shines through in the final product.
Not only did the Belong O2 Priority Level Up Showdown reach almost 100,000 views on Twitch and provide an amazing opportunity for O2 to align themselves with the gaming, esports and fighting games communities, it also showcased the incredible Belong Arenas and demonstrated another top quality broadcast achieved safely during lockdown.