Despite Last-Minute Site Change, Riot Games Breaks Records With League of Legends World Championship in Iceland Originally slated to take place in China, esports event sets new viewership records By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor
Tuesday, November 9, 2021 - 3:01 pm
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The most-watched esports event on the planet, Riot Games' League of Legends World Championship Final always features exciting new production technologies and elements to blow fans away. The record-setting Worlds 2021 production in Reykjav k was no different as Riot endeavored to compensate for the lack of screaming fans in the stands with high-end production quality and storytelling.
Photos: Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games
We were looking for ways to elevate the Worlds experience to a new level [despite] the absence of a live audience, says Nick Troop, executive producer, League of Legends and Wild Rift global esports events, Riot Games. Yes, the energy that comes from a live audience cannot be replicated, so we explicitly don't try to. Instead, we look to the other tools that are available across our global broadcast apparatus. To make it feel like a more epic experience, we went all out on the camera kit, the LED [stage], and anything else that could add excitement to the narrative.
Go further behind the scenes of the 2021 League of Legends World Championship broadcast at the SVG Esports Production Summit in Los Angeles on Nov. 16, where Nick Troop will serve as Keynote Speaker. CLICK HERE for more information and to register now.
From China to Iceland: Navigating the Last-Minute Location Change In addition to finding new ways to add energy and excitement to the broadcast without a live audience, Riot Games had to overcome a host of unprecedented pandemic-era challenges, including a last-minute move from China to Iceland. In early August - less than three months before Worlds were set to begin - Riot announced that Worlds would be shifting from Shenzhen, China, to an undisclosed location in Europe. Shortly after, Riot announced that Worlds would be held in Reykjav k, site of its successful LoL Mid-Season Invitational in May.
The world-feed production was produced onsite in Iceland.
We were put in an extremely challenging position this year, but we were able to get it done, says Troop. We were able to hit the ground running pretty quick. Thanks to our existing strategic relationships in Iceland from MSI, we were able to start laying a good amount of track in advance. Of course, early on, there was stress about how we could get all of this done in such a short amount of time, but, truthfully, I had zero anxiety about people's capability to deliver, because we have such an amazing team.
Onsite in Iceland: World-Feed Produced, Distributed to the Regions In Reykjav k at Hall A of the Laugardalsh ll indoor sports arena, Riot Games produced a main world feed out of an NEP mobile unit for Worlds (Oct. 5-Nov. 6). The truck fed content to a Riot-owned transmission flypack onsite for distribution across the globe.
The world feed, along with a cavalcade of ancillary content and camera angles, was provided to 19 regional broadcast partners who customized the broadcast for their respective audiences. For example, the English broadcast leveraged the world feed from Reykjav k, but its analysts and casters were located at Riot's studio in Berlin. Broadcasts in Chinese, Korean, Spanish, and other languages were centralized at studios across the planet and leveraged the world feed.
A total of 26 transmission feeds were sent to the 19 regions/broadcasts via the company's dedicated Riot Direct network, and more than 210 TB of data was uploaded from the venue during the month-long event. More than 70 video lines connected the local truck and a Riot transmission network to serve a variety of needs, including the Proview experience, camera iso feeds, custom QC multiviewers, and Facecams for each player.
Team EDward Gaming (left) and Team DAMWON KIA onstage at the League of Legends World Championship Finals Opening Ceremony
We send the world feed plus all of these other feeds to all the different regions so they build their own show from that, says Max Trauss, broadcast architect, Riot Games. Even though we are primarily onsite for the show in Iceland, the transmission count ends up getting close to what it would be for a remote show just because of the massive distribution side.
Riot also completed successful tests of new IP-based protected MADI streams between Los Angeles and Iceland with latency of less than 250 ms using Nevion Virtuoso via Riot Direct.
Team EDward Gaming (left) and team DAMWON KIA compete at the League of Legends World Championship Finals. (Photo: Clive Rose/Riot Games)
For comms, the intercom system included 56 Riedel Bolero packs and 55 wired panels, plus a ClearCom Helixnet system. The team also used three 128 128 Riedel Artist frames and two full 64-channel MADI streams. Eight lines fed to L.A. and 13 dynamic lines to Berlin - all via Riot Direct. Unity servers were also used for remote personnel and backup.
The regions are really the lifeblood of what makes this whole [operation] work, so we want to make sure we can give them the best possible product, says Trauss. It has been a lot of fun working with the regions over the last year. There are a lot of really smart and enthusiastic people at Riot, and it has been humbling to see how much everybody wants to help each other out from region to region.
Competition Stage: An LED Feast for the Eyes Riot worked with Quince to design an LED-based competition stage in Reykjav k that would serve as the home of Worlds 2021. The result was a slick LED wall and floor that provided a diverse set of tools for adjusting the look of the broadcast throughout the month-plus of shows.
EDward
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Despite Last-Minute Site Change, Riot Games Breaks Records With League of Legends World Championship in Iceland Originally slated to take place in China, esports event sets new viewership records By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor 
