Sports Audio Summit 2022: Project Stryker on supporting regional esports with follow the sun' production in the cloud By Kevin Emmott
Thursday, December 15, 2022 - 13:27
Print This Story
Riot Games' lead engineer and guru of all things audio, Alex Rybalko, on stage at the Sports Audio Summit 2022 with SVG Europe editor and head of SVG Audio, Heather McLean
There is just no stopping the rise of esports. It is a no-brainer, being massive amounts of fun, completely inclusive across borders and totally accessible.
Opening the SVG Europe Audio Sports Audio Summit 2022, held in London on 7 December, Riot Games' Alex Rybalko gave an eager audience an insight into Riot Games' latest innovative move: Project Stryker.
As its lead engineer, Rybalko talked about Project Stryker's follow the sun' production model and how it supports gamers, viewers and staff. He spoke about how Stryker supporting Riot's regional teams to create better content despite the complexity of the audio set up, and how it leverages the cloud to do it in a cost-effective way.
According to German consumer data company Statista, the worldwide esports audience size reached 532 million people in 2022, and by 2025 there are expected to be over 640 million. For perspective, that is more people than live in the EU and the UK combined.
Broadcast almost exclusively on over the top (OTT) channels, esports trailblazers like Riot Games are not only picking up the mantle, they are reinventing it.
Long time in the game
Riot has been in the game a long time and already has a history of challenging what is possible, such as employing remote production models long before the model became established.
In the summer of 2022, Riot Games officially kicked off Project Stryker with the launch of its first Remote Broadcast Centre (RBC) in a 50,000 square foot former nightclub in Dublin. Now serving as a central broadcasting hub for both regional and global live esports across all Riot's titles, Project Stryker will eventually orchestrate media flows between three global RBCs.
With support for League of Legends, Valorant and Wild Rift, each RBC is located eight hours apart to scale up and to enable 24/7 production facilities for any event, wherever it is. The company started building the second, located in Seattle, in the fourth quarter of 2022.
On stage at the Sports Audio Summit 2022, Rybalko stated: We've been doing big esports using remote production for over a decade, so it's nothing new, but it was only ever with League of Legends, said Rybalko. That game has been at the forefront of esports for that entire time, but now we've added more games we need to be able to scale.
We already have existing workflows and teams in place all over the world which take care of local esports production, but to consolidate all of it at capacity we created Project Stryker. It's a follow the Sun' model, with three remote hubs located eight hours apart to provide 24 hour coverage.
Dublin came online in the summer and we've already done a couple of big global shows. The idea is not to replace what we already do - and do well - but to add more capacity and enable our regions.
At the press launch of Riot Games' Project Styker in Dublin, July 2022. [Left to right]: Trevor Henry, LEC shoutcaster; Scott Adametz, director of infrastructure engineering; Allyson Gormley, general manager Project Stryker Dublin; and John Needham, president of esports, Riot Games
Creating a direct riot
The company uses its own Riot Direct service to transport all the feeds. Riot Direct is a super low latency transport which has been in place since 2014, originally created to improve the player experience so Riot did not have to rely on third party ISP routing.
Riot Direct is our own global ISP, added Rybalko. The capacity was already there so it was a natural fit for Project Stryker; all our remote production is already powered by that network.
The interface between our data centres and the cloud is straightforward. Riot Direct connects straight into AWS there is definitely a benefit to being one of AWS's largest customers! A lot of that stuff already exists by default and the broadcast side of things are a natural fit on top of the systems we already have.
A lot of what we do is across streaming platforms like Twitch and YouTube; we distribute to these from both private and public cloud. We use the JPEG-XS compression format, which is SMPTE ST 2022-7-compliant for resilience, and connect to AWS using the AWS Media Connect transport service and AWS Media Live for encoding. We use Nimble Servers for distribution to our regional partners as well, and we encode and distribute from there.
All audio is uncompressed 2110-30. For ease of use Riot usually take in two to four streams of MADI, unicast over the WAN, and native 2110-30 within its facilities.
This mature combination of technologies enables Riot Games to support all its regions with additional functionality, which Rybalko said levels the playing field and creates a better product.
Our EMEA region broadcasts in up to 17 languages, and all of our language partners receive a world feed and the tools they require, but often regions feel underserved because they don't have access to the top-of-the-line tools that some of the bigger facilities have, said Rybalko. In a connected world they can access all this tech. The production hub is a remote broadcast centre so by definition everything we do is remote, which means all the equipment is in a data centre and not at the facility.
By centralising all our technology and adding it to the cloud, we can provide these tools across the board; we can raise the baseline of production to a higher standard so that everyone draws from the same pool and all our content is better. When we have all th
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
19/08/2026
As the cost of IP nears price parity with traditional SDI, Reynolds argues that ...
19/08/2026
A private 5G bubble was chosen instead of traditional broadcast RF for the race ...
19/08/2026
(L-R) Rafael Manuel and Isabel Sicat attend the Filipi ana premiere during the 2026 Sundance Film Festival at The Ray Theatre on January 23, 2026, in Park Cit...
19/08/2026
Studio owners invited to have their say on rates cuts
The Music Producers Guild (MPG) are inviting UK-based studios to take part in an in-depth survey that ...
19/08/2026
Vintage-inspired desktop interface revealed
Harrison's latest hardware offering sees them head into the world of audio interfaces, delivering a 10-in/12...
19/08/2026
Granular effect remains locked to scale and tempo
Described as your dream granular effect , Minimal Audio's latest creation is capable of turning any s...
19/08/2026
First polyphonic SWAM instrument incoming
Audio Modeling's latest physical-modelling orchestral instrument is just around the corner, and is now availab...
19/08/2026
World Cup Games Generate 84 Billion Minutes Across FOX, Fox Sports 1 and NBCU...
19/08/2026
July brought typical peak-holiday drops in viewership, driven primarily by viewers stepping away from screens and a visible decline in reach across both traditi...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Henry joins BCE as the company accelerates its commercial strategy and expands its international presence across the media, broadcast and technology markets. He...
19/08/2026
iWedia, a leading provider of software solutions for connected TV devices, today announced a major milestone in Android platform optimization with the successfu...
19/08/2026
NTP Technology announces that ST 2110-30 audio-over-IP connectivity with AES67 and RAVENNA capabilities is now available for the brand's world-class audio i...
19/08/2026
Net Insight has been selected to provide its Nimbra platform by the service provider Big Blue Marble, formerly ORS Group, as the core media transport solution f...
19/08/2026
LiveU has supported Coventry City FC and several other top-flight UK football clubs through one of their most demanding live production challenges of the year, ...
19/08/2026
Nature Seekers Documentary Shot with Blackmagic URSA Cine 12K LF
Brie Clayton August 18, 2026
0 Comments
Filming endangered turtles required camera...
19/08/2026
Neyrinck Brings D-Control Consoles Back to Life on Apple Silicon with D-Control ...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
19/08/2026
Riedel Communications today announced that Edith Cowan University (ECU) in Perth, Australia, implemented a comprehensive communications infrastructure that brin...
19/08/2026
QuickLink, a leading provider of award-winning video production and remote guest contribution solutions, will spotlight a major leap forward in remote guest con...
19/08/2026
Integrated platform melds media asset management, playout automation and newsroom workflows
EMAM, PlayBox Neo and SNEWS have officially launched Nuvex, a conne...
19/08/2026
Screen Australia releases the Private Investment Toolkit to strengthen screen in...
19/08/2026
Do Aussies truly value local content? Unpacking Screen Currency 2026 with Deirdr...
19/08/2026
There's an early Christmas gift for Bookish fans, as UKTV confirms the re-commission of the hit U&alibi drama, created by and starring Mark Gatiss. Viewers ...
19/08/2026
Wednesday 19 August 2026
Sky gives sports fans the chance to watch multiple liv...
19/08/2026
On Saturday September 5 Katie Taylor will step into the ring for the fight of her life against Flora Pili in front of 80,000 fans in Croke Park. A legendary fig...
18/08/2026
SportStream 2026, a free three-day virtual event, will take place September 15-17. One registration provides access to all three days of live programming and on...
18/08/2026
BeckTV will introduce BeckFlow to the European market at IBC2026, demonstrated on the Providius stand (10.F53).
BeckFlow is a web-based schematic documentation...
18/08/2026
Boland Communications will introduce a SMPTE ST 2110 input option for its 4K monitors at IBC2026, along with a new 55-inch super-narrow bezel display for video ...
18/08/2026
Dolby Laboratories and the Seattle Seahawks have announced a partnership integrating Dolby OptiView into the Seahawks' live streaming coverage, making the S...
18/08/2026
For BMG Executive Producer of Sports Production, Graham Taylor, producing live s...
18/08/2026
TMRW Sports has appointed Rufus Hack as President of Golf, a newly created role in which he will lead the company's golf businesses including TGL presented ...
18/08/2026
SMT will provide race technology for FOX Sports' coverage of the Freedom 250 Grand Prix of Washington, D.C. on August 23, when the NTT INDYCAR SERIES races ...
18/08/2026
The live, YouTube-native roundtables combine fan voices, credentialed reporters,...
18/08/2026
Behind The Mic provides a roundup of recent news regarding on-air talent, includ...
18/08/2026
The industry legend sounds off on replacing the Heat's iconic Medusa score...
18/08/2026
William F. Rasmussen, the sports fan-turned broadcaster and entrepreneur whose out-of-the-box idea of a 24-hour cable sports network, ESPN, changed forever the ...
18/08/2026
DAZN Group has completed its acquisition of ViewLift, a provider of streaming and digital solutions for sports content owners. The acquisition was first announc...
18/08/2026
The American Association of Professional Baseball (AAPB) has added SI TV, Sports Illustrated's 24/7 streaming channel, as a broadcast partner for the remain...
18/08/2026
The Esports Foundation has announced that the inaugural Esports Nations Cup (ENC), originally scheduled for November 2026 in Riyadh, will be postponed to Novemb...
18/08/2026
Diversified has announced a new Global Managed Services Practice, consolidating the company's managed services capabilities into one organization. Rob Mello...
18/08/2026
Appear has completed a proof of concept with Thoroughbred Racing Productions (TRP), demonstrating multi-camera remote live production over bonded 5G cellular an...
Sports Audio Summit 2022: Project Stryker on supporting regional esports with follow the sun' production in the cloud By Kevin Emmott 
