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When HP’s annual OMEN challenge made its triumphant visit to Camden town, we were right there to capture every loot grab and headshot.
The OMEN challenge saw five of the world’s best Counter Strike: Global Offensive (CSGO) players battle it out for $50,000. High octane 1v1 bouts and 4 player deathmatches were fought in custom-built arenas, with extra prize money awarded for knife kills. This year also saw the first ever use of Mixed Reality in a live broadcast, meaning players could enter the game map in person to interact with in-game characters.
We needed to capture the excitement and tension of the event. After all, these were some of the world’s top eSports competitors vying to see who has the best aim and fastest trigger finger.
Storytelling was at the heart of our creative approach, with a roster of amazing talent, alongside a wildcard competitor we knew the players and the stories they created had to be the focus of the tournament. Creatively, the use of XR and AR technology was something that we insisted had to elevate the story telling and not to overuse it. We decided to use this for in-game replays and transitions from the studio, blending the bounds of the game and the real world and immersing the viewers in the content.
Flux provided full broadcast production services – Vision mixing, graphics, dual replay systems and cameras and worked extensively in the planning phase with the mixed reality team to ensure a seamless integration. Streaming on Twitch, we combined the action packed in game footage with live commentary from CSGO experts, alongside a clean feed for onwards translation to other languages.
Slipping seamlessly between gamers’ feeds meant we could capture every shot in the fast paced competition. We combined this with regular studio cutaways so the viewers could see their gaming heroes in the flesh as they celebrated every kill.
With over 65,000 views on Twitch and highlights from the event gathering tens of thousands of views across multiple platforms including Reddit, Facebook Live and YouTube, the event was a huge success. The prize money was eventually won by S1mple, defeating NBK (our tournament wildcard) in a sensationally tense and hard fought final. It was an incredible story, with the final been streamed almost half a million times since on YouTube. Feedback from the CSGO community was also incredibly positive, and the content is continuing to make ripples to this day.
Flux might need to get practising to be in with a shot at next year’s competition.