Twitch Rivals Gives Valorant a Grand Debut With Launch Showdown' Global Esports Tournament A mix of at-home and traditional workflows across eight regions was deployed for the event By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor
Friday, June 19, 2020 - 9:14 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
After months of eager anticipation by the gaming community, EA's latest title, Valorant, finally arrived on June 2. In celebration of the launch, Twitch and Riot Games hosted the $200,000 Twitch Rivals Valorant Launch Showdown, featuring eight Valorant tournaments taking place simultaneously in eight global regions June 3-7. To pull this off, the Twitch Rivals production-operations team created a transcontinental model that deployed multiple crews and blended at-home and traditional workflows.
Twitch Rivals' entire home-base control-room team in North America worked remotely from their respective homes for the Valorant Launch Showdown.
Our workflow has been in place for at-home production for some time. The size and scope of the event and collaboration between multiple regions globally made this unique, says Steven Flisler, senior director, esports product and operations, Twitch. The Twitch team also had been in talks with Riot about this show for many months, [from] the big closed beta event in April all the way to the June launch. The curveball was working in the current climate given work from home conditions.
Production Model: Around the Clock, Around the World
The Twitch Rivals production-ops team led by Mitch Rosenthal was staffed around the clock with Twitch crew members across the globe. The team divided the tournaments across North America, Latin America, Europe, and Asia and engaged three of its production partners - Vindex/NGE (Next Generation Esports), Freaks4U, and OGN - to help run the local tournaments and seven local-language broadcasts. Twitch Rivals' home-base remote-control-room team orchestrated 43 hours of coverage June 5-7 as well as a kickoff show on June 3.
This was a little bit different given the hours and number of active regions, says Flisler. Following the sun and having our partners upload highlights and stats so we could tell a global story was a first for us at this scale. Other than our TwitchCon events that feature two or three days of constant programming, this was our largest series of events and by far our largest endeavor for online production.
Twitch Rivals Casters commentated from their homes.
The combination of at-home and traditional control-room-based production workflows depended on the location. Productions out of Asia and Europe (Korea and Germany), for example, were able to deploy physical infrastructure (while maintaining social-distancing regulations). In North America (specifically Los Angeles), Twitch deployed a modified remote setup given pandemic restrictions. Each team was 15-20 people depending on the region, with talent located remotely across the world regardless of region.
Twitch Rivals' primary production partner, Vindex/NGE, managed the core production on Twitch.tv/TwitchRivals, built the global graphics package, and handled the live kickoff stream, as well as the North American, Brazil, and LATAM tournaments. In Europe, Twitch Rivals partnered with Freaks4U for the two tournaments and the English-, German-, and French-language feeds. In Asia, OGN ran the Korea and Japan tournaments and local-language streams.
We rely on our partners globally to work with our internal team to pump out amazing content for our viewers, says Flisler.
In addition, Twitch worked to create as much synergy as possible between its Events and Broadcast teams with Events Manager Matthew Lamos working hand in hand with Broadcast Production Manager Alex Solomita.
That really helped smooth out the logistics of an event this large, says Flisler. The collaboration was the key to the success of this event. Having synergy between them is a testament to our internal team's ability to bring it all together.
Player Coordination and Broadcast: 360 Participants, Seven Languages
The Twitch Rivals Valorant Launch Showdown featured 360 participants across eight tournaments in seven languages. Sourcing these streamers to participate in the global launch event proved to be a major undertaking, so Twitch Rivals worked closely with Riot Games to ensure that the best of the best were able to participate.
The pot for the Valorant Launch Showdown was $200,000.
Coordinating the logistics of 360 players across eight regions was the most challenging and rewarding part of executing a tournament series like this, says Flisler. The better we position the players for success, the better the experience will be for both players and viewers. We use a high-touch approach to communicate with our Twitch creators in an event like this and, to ensure a great experience, make sure that everyone is live on-stream well before the competition starts.
CLICK HERE to watch the Valorant Launch Showdown Finals.
The spectating presentation of the game also presented a major challenge because Twitch aimed to cut between player-streamer POV cameras, observer first-person perspectives, and observer third-person perspectives. All these sources had to be in sync, and, with stream delays to keep the tournament competitive, the operations team was faced with even more variables to triangulate.
[We produced] five days of content [with] skrimming [scrimmaging] and high-level competition for a brand new game, says Flisler. It's a massive win for Riot and Twitch and, most important, the Twitch community. The climax of the competition lasted all the way until the 43rd broadcast hour.
Twitch Rivals Mission: Keep the Community Engaged
Though marking a high-point for Twitch Rivals, the Valorant Launch Showdown is just one of nearly a dozen live esports
Most recent headlines
09/11/2025
Dalet today announced a transformative leap forward for media operations: Agentic Artificial Intelligence (AI) that unifies the Dalet ecosystem under one natura...
28/10/2025
ESPN Announces Monsters Funday Football', Its Latest Real-Time Animated Bro...
28/10/2025
SVG All-Stars: Catherine Chalfant, Manager, Remote Operations, ESPNThe Ole Miss alum is an operational force behind ESPN's extensive college-football catalo...
28/10/2025
Elevating the experience: AI and data take Ryder Cup to the next level By Joe OHalloran
Tuesday, October 28, 2025 - 10:25
Print This Story
NBC produced th...
28/10/2025
Conquering the Air (waves): Taking a close up look at the IBC Accelerator Priva...
28/10/2025
World Series 2025: Spectrum SportsNet LA Brings Dodgers Fans Closer to the Actio...
28/10/2025
Dylan Southern and Benedict Cumberbatch at the premiere of The Thing with Feathers (photo by George Pimentel / Shutterstock for Sundance Film Festival)...
28/10/2025
For three weeks in Lagos, Spotify's Greasy Tunes Caf pop-up brought the cit...
28/10/2025
Once a niche subculture, German rap has evolved into an influential cultural movement. Now, Spotify is giving the genre a new home with OFFCULT, a playlist dedi...
28/10/2025
Shane Delia's Malta serves up the Mediterranean this summer
28 October, 2025
Media releases
Feast on 9,000 years of culinary history Mondays from 24 No...
28/10/2025
SBS's global sporting festival continues with the FIVB Beach Volleyball Worl...
28/10/2025
Bilbao, October 28, 2025 - AgileTV, a leading technology solutions company for t...
28/10/2025
Disney, NBCUniversal, FOX, Paramount Each Achieve Double-Digit Monthly Growth
...
28/10/2025
CINCINNATI The E.W. Scripps Company has announced an agreement to sell WRTV, its local ABC-affiliated station in Indianapolis, to Circle City Broadcasting for $...
28/10/2025
Berklee College of Music and Berklee Valencia Named to Billboards 2025 Top Music...
28/10/2025
NEW YORK As AI usage continues to spike, a new study from IAB delves into an important aspect of how AI is transforming the advertising business with new data s...
28/10/2025
Charlie Jablonski, a broadcast tech pioneer who helped shape the modern era of Olympics television coverage, died Oct. 25 at his home in Lake George N.Y., the N...
28/10/2025
VIENNA, Austria Bitmovin has launched Bitmovin Observability, a new stand-alone video data solution that delivers real-time insights into video playback. The so...
28/10/2025
LOS ANGELES LucidLink, the file streaming platform, has announced a Frame.io integration and expanded mobile capabilities at Adobe Max....
28/10/2025
Mediagenix, a global leader in smart content solutions to profitably connect the right content to the right audience, today announced that it has joined the Ama...
28/10/2025
Lightware, an industry leader in connectivity and signal management solutions, has announced a major update to its Taurus
platform, which now delivers flawless...
28/10/2025
Following a successful mid-September International Broadcasting Convention in Amsterdam, Hiltron Communications will promote its full range of satellite communi...
28/10/2025
Open Broadcast Systems has chosen MC&S (Media Consulting & Services) as a reseller to help strengthen its presence in France.
With over twenty years of experi...
28/10/2025
Bitmovin, leading provider of video streaming solutions, has launched Bitmovin Observability, a new stand-alone video data solution that delivers real-time insi...
28/10/2025
Ease Live, the leader in interactive TV technology, today announced the successful launch of interactive graphical overlays for UEFA Champions League matches fo...
28/10/2025
LucidLink, the file streaming platform, today at Adobe MAX announced a Frame.io integration and expanded mobile capabilities, streamlining collaboration and hel...
28/10/2025
ATLANTA Gray Media has promoted Nick Hasenecz to general manager of WNDU, its NBC affiliate in the South Bend-Elkhart, Ind., market....
28/10/2025
Applications Open for Berklee Fenway Neighborhood Improvement Grant Boston nonprofits can apply by December 12 for funding to support community projects that ...
28/10/2025
28 Oct 2025
VEON's JazzCash Wins Silver Award for Innovation in Lending at ...
28/10/2025
Guests include Wayne Rooney, Maya Jama, Dame Laura Kenny, Chloe Kelly, Chris McC...
28/10/2025
The two-hour special, recorded live from the iconic Dolby Theatre in LA, will ai...
28/10/2025
Eutelsat upgrades teleports with Rohde & Schwarz satellite uplink amplifiers High efficiency and resilient Ku-band amplifiers for excellent RF performance
...
28/10/2025
These appointments come at a pivotal time for ABC, as the organisation continues to evolve to meet the changing needs of a digital-first media ecosystem. The ne...
28/10/2025
Scripps Research awarded $4 million to advance platform for neurodevelopmental disorders The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) grant support...
27/10/2025
You can touch this: Haptics becoming central to the virtual live experience By Adrian Pennington
Friday, October 24, 2025 - 09:12
Print This Story
The vid...
27/10/2025
A tale of two trailers: France's Stop & Go doubles up with its new hybrid tr...
27/10/2025
Pro Padel League Stages City's Cup Finals Inside NYC's Hammerstein Ballr...
27/10/2025
World Series 2025: Sportsnet Delivers Made-in-Canada' Moment for a Nation U...
27/10/2025
ESPN Extends Partnership With Sony's Beyond Sports To Expand Animated Altern...
27/10/2025
Reid Davenport attends the 2025 Sundance Film Festival premiere of Life After at The Ray Theatre on January 27, 2025, in Park City, UT. (Photo by Robin Marsha...
27/10/2025
As the days grow shorter and the nights get darker, there's nothing like getting swept up in a story that sends shivers down your spine. In honor of spooky ...
27/10/2025
UPDATE: Both parties have reached a new carriage agreement....
27/10/2025
LONDON As Hollywood jumps into the production of mini-dramas, a new study from Ampere Analysis finds that more than one in 10 internet users have watched drama ...
27/10/2025
LONDON Yealink, a provider of unified communication and collaboration solutions, has joined the NDI ecosystem with the availability of its SmartVision 80 premiu...
27/10/2025
ATLANTA Gray Media has named Chris Conroy as general manager of its stations in Cleveland, leading WOIO, a CBS affiliate, The CW station WUAB and Telemundo outl...
27/10/2025
ESPOO, Finland European connectivity leaders Nokia and Ericsson, have partnered with Berlin's Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute (HHI), to shape and drive ...
27/10/2025
PHILADELPHIA Comcast has expanded NOW TV Latino, its Spanish-language live TV and streaming offering, adding five more channels from Univision, ViX Premium with...
27/10/2025
Test & measurement innovator, Leader Electronics, will present its latest products and solutions at InterBEE 2025 (Hall 5, Booth 5218) Makuhari Messe in Chiba, ...
27/10/2025
Back to All News
City of Shadows, the New Netflix Thriller Arrives on December 12
Entertainment
27 October 2025
GlobalSpain
Link copied to clipboard
Downl...
Twitch Rivals Gives Valorant a Grand Debut With Launch Showdown' Global Esports Tournament A mix of at-home and traditional workflows across eight regions was deployed for the event By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor 
