Inside OGN Super Arena: The First Esports Venue in North America Designed Specifically for Battle Royale

Inside OGN Super Arena: The First Esports Venue in North America Designed Specifically for Battle Royale New facility is geared toward popular battle royale games like Fortnite and PUBG By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor

Thursday, June 13, 2019 - 1:25 pm

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Esports may be the hot new trend in the U.S., but OGN has been producing and distributing live esports competitions for the better part of two decades. And, last December, the South Korean esports network and content producer made its first big splash in North America, opening OGN Super Arena in Manhattan Beach, CA.

The 35,000-sq.-ft. OGN Super Arena is the first esports venue in North America designed specifically for popular battle royale games.

The 35,000-sq.-ft. studio is the first esports venue in North America designed specifically for popular battle royale games - such as Fortnite and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG) - with the ability to host up to 100 players and 500 audience members. OGN Super Arena is limited solely to battle royale, however, modular design will also enable the venue to be adapted for MOBA games, mobile games, and other types of esports competitions.

There are so many different genres in esports, and, with our experience that spans nearly two decades, we've experienced almost everything, says Gary Kim, executive producer/head of programming and production, OGN. The first [format] we showcased with this new arena is what's most popular these days: the battle royale genre. This facility is the very first battle royale-dedicated arena in North America, and that's just the beginning. This facility is very modular, so we can build and customize it for every genre of esports.

OGN Super Arena began Host Clash Royale League in May.

The arena debuted in December in conjunction with the launch of the National PUBG League (NPL), the first professional PUBG League in North America. The NPL season is separated into three phases with weekly competitions hosted at OGN Super Arena featuring 16 four-player squads vying for $1 million in prize money.

Last month, OGN inked a deal with Supercell to host the Clash Royale League West (CRL West), the first North American esports league for the uber-successful mobile game, at the arena. With both NPL and CRL West hosting weekly competitions at the facility, OGN Super Arena is booked solid with esports events throughout each week.

Inside the Arena: Giant LED Display Is Blank Canvas' for Esports Production

The arena is centered on a massive 14,336 1408-in. LED display (comprising 1,100 Barco LED tiles) and features an Astro Spatial Audio (ASA) immersive 3D sound system. In addition to the main display, player sleds are outfitted 6144 640 in LED, the floor is completely lined with LEDs (totaling 2160 1120), and the tunnel where players walk out has another 640 896 in LEDs. All the LED is controlled by D3 servers and Ventuz graphics software.

The entire OGN Super Arena stage is filled with LED, including a massive 14,336 1408-in. LED display, as well as LED in front of player sleds and throughout the floor.

Between the LED video wall, the LEDs in the sleds, and the LED floor, we just think of it as a blank canvas: whatever you come up with, we can project it and make it into reality, says Endi Maricevic, broadcast technical manager, Detune, which served as systems integrator for the arena.

The stage is set for 64 players for NPL competitions but can be expanded for up to 100 players for large battle royale events, such as Fortnite. During gameplay, the LED display in front of each sled shows the player's game handle and pulls data directly from the game's APIs to display the player's health, remaining weapons inventory, and other stats.

We integrate all the APIs from the game to show players' inventory and health, says Maricevic. We are able to grab other data from the gameplay to show if a player's life is at 50% and their complete inventory: how many bombs, how many grenades, and so on. The graphics are all tied in together for the user experience.

One of two jibs on hand at OGN Super Arena

In terms of cameras, OGN has deployed eight Sony HDC-2400 hard cameras and two wireless RF Sony HD XDCAM cameras (PXW-X500 wireless cams with IMT/Vislink transmitters and receivers) - all with Fujinon lenses. Up to 20 Marshall HDSDI POV cams are on hand to cover the players at their sleds.

OGN has also put a major focus on augmented reality, outfitting one of its two jibs with a Stype AR tracking system and one pedestal camera with a Stype Red Spy AR tracking. In addition, a Telemetric robotic rail-cam system with AR capability is located at the front of the stage. AR is especially prevalent in CRL coverage, which aims to blur the line between elements in the game and on the stage.

The casters desk and analyst desk are located at the back of OGN Super Arena.

We can actually visualize all the elements in advance. For Clash Royale, we were able to show [the OGN production team] what the AR [elements] would look like before we deployed them, says Detune CEO Michael Thuney. If another publisher wanted to come in here with another game, we can easily change the configuration and build something else that is customized for them to show them in advance.

Basically, he continues, any [element] that's used on the LED [display] can also be used in AR, and it can be brought into editing via the Vizrt [graphics] systems as well. With the timecode, we can go to any point during the game and find out what graphics were used at that point and replicate that.

In addition, a caster desk and analyst desk are located at the back of the arena behind the audience.

Inside the Control Room and Infrastructure: It's All About NDI

A mobile unit parked outside OGN Super Arena served as a control room f

LINK:	https://www.sportsvideo.org/2019/06/13/inside-ogn-super-arena-the-firs...
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