
How ESL FACEIT Group Produced Three Esports Events Across Two Continents in One Epic Weekend Multi-day competitions took place in Japan, Poland, and Spain By Mark J Burns, SVG Contributor
Tuesday, March 25, 2025 - 3:08 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
In late January, ESL FACEIT Group (EFG), an esports and videogames entertainment company, achieved a monumental feat in the esports universe, producing three global competitions in three countries across two continents - in one weekend.
This is one single weekend when a lot of major events essentially happening at the same time were pulled off by an internal core team, says Fabian Leimbach, VP, production technology, EFG. That is definitely big for us.
In Japan, the five-day ALGS (Apex Legends) Year 4 Championship started on Jan. 29, becoming the country's third-most-watched esports competition. In Europe for the first time in five years, the four-day Call of Duty Major I began in Madrid on Jan. 30. In Poland, IEM Katowice, a Counter-Strike tournament, began on Jan. 29 and, over its 10-plus days, logged 30.6 million hours watched, setting a viewership record for any esports event in Poland.
In Japan, the five-day ALGS Year 4 Championship started on Jan. 29.
Naturally, logistics - such as shipping hardware and equipment across the world and appropriately staffing such global events with the right personnel and expertise - can be the biggest challenge, according to Leimbach.
Here is how it works: the EFG production team comprises a global unit, which breaks up into speciality divisions based on the event, location, and the game itself. For example, for the CDL Major I in particular, EFG deployed key the North American production-team members who have a familiarity with the Call of Duty game with members of the Swedish production team.
In Poland, IEM Katowice, a Counter-Strike tournament, began on Jan. 29
As EFG technical lead, Leimbach oversees all events and manages everything with a cable attached to it. While each event gets the full support of our global leadership, he explains, they're also led by a duo of experienced professionals with a background working on each game, as well as local crews who have a regional expertise.
For the three events, EFG relied on flight-case setups instead of mobile production units. He notes that, for the ALGS championship, the company had several distinct control rooms, each with its independent production lines. However, they shared the same camera and audio feeds to ensure that each control room was as efficient and aligned as possible.
For the ALGS championship, EFG had several distinct control rooms, each with its independent production lines.
In Spain, EFG had a combined control room for Call of Duty Major I, deploying the custom in-game setup to produce the event at every in-game angle imaginable. The setup directly collaborated with the English-broadcast control room to form one unit that assembled the main PGM broadcast feed.
The IEM Katowice production featured an offsite control room. The English-broadcast control room handled the host-broadcast feed, collaborating with an in-game control room to capture key moments in real time. This is crucial, says Leimbach, because our in-game control room runs a submix of game angles - each linked to in-game data - to give us more control and visibility over what happens every round.
Livestreamed on YouTube, the Call of Duty competition, featured 19 cameras, including one jib, one Steadicam, eight point-of-view and small cameras, and three handhelds. The production also featured 12 replay channels, seven graphics channels, and eight observer feeds to capture the in-game perspective. The more observer feed we have, he points out, the more angles we can offer.
Viewers could livestream the IEM event on FACEIT Watch and the ESL Counter-Strike Twitch and YouTube channels,
For IEM, which viewers could livestream on FACEIT Watch and the ESL Counter-Strike Twitch and YouTube channels, the production comprised 29 cameras, including 10 point-of-view cameras, one longshot, six handhelds, one spider camera, one Steadicam, and two cameras mounted on an automated slider system triggered by in-game data. Additionally, there were 22 replay channels and six graphics channels. Leimbach says that EFG created an immersive in-arena audio experience and transported the in-arena vibrance from the game to the online viewers.
Japan's Apex Legends event had 78 total cameras - including 60 point-of-view cameras, four rail cameras, two jibs, and one Steadicam - and 34 replay channels, 14 graphics channels, and 11 observer feeds. The production also featured seven stations for live editing.
In Japan, the five-day ALGS (Apex Legends) Year 4 Championship became the country's third-most-watched esports competition.
For us, Leimbach says, it's all about how we can leverage what technology has to offer and customize our own solutions for the game titles. That's the most important fact here.
More than 300 people were involved in IEM Katowice and more than 1,000 the ALGS Year 4 Championship, encompassing project operations, broadcast production, IT, stage setup, media services, and postproduction and comprising full-time staffers, third-party vendors, part-time professionals, and freelance support. EFG's 100-plus-person staff for Call of Duty Major I handled only the broadcast production.
The IEM production comprised 29 cameras, including an army of speciality systems.
EFG worked with third-party vendors and directly with hardware providers for the events' equipment needs. Gravity served as the major full-service vendor. EFG also collaborated with Grass Valley, Panasonic, and Sony on speciality equipment.
Leimbach says EFG is definitely interested in another three-event weekend across multiple co
North America Stories
30/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/04/2026
Scalable broadcast-grade production over public internet, replacing traditional OB workflows...
30/04/2026
Live demonstrations highlight LCEVC ecosystem momentum, AI-powered video pipelines, and expansion across broadcast, streaming, and social media.
DTV (TV 3.0) ...
30/04/2026
Student Spotlight: Matthew Leon The dual major shares his path from community college to Berklee, and how his heritage influences his work.
April 29, 2026
B...
30/04/2026
Berklee Artists to Perform at Major Global Music Festivals As part of the Berklee Popular Music Institute, students will perform at Lollapalooza, Governors Ba...
30/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
30/04/2026
A flexible monitoring platform designed to simplify ST 2110 operations, consolidate vendor tools, and support modern live production environments. See it at NAB...
30/04/2026
Sundance-premiering Run Amok is an expressive, unconventional take on today's teen experience, replete with musical numbers. When cinematographer Shachar ...
30/04/2026
JACKSONVILLE, AL, APRIL 29, 2026 Jacksonville State University, known as Jax State and a proud NCAA Division I member of Conference USA, has transformed its a...
30/04/2026
Transforming viewer and content data into real-time intelligence to deliver relevant streaming experiences at scale
ThinkAnalytics, the global leader in AI-pow...
30/04/2026
Sports Production, Delivery is Big Biz at NAB
Andy Marken April 29, 2026
0 Comments
Hero image source: NAB
One of the neat things about trade shows i...
30/04/2026
It's gonna be May - and the cloud's in full festival mode.
16 games ar...
30/04/2026
Scripps Research ranks third in 2026 Cure Innovation Index
April 29, 2026
LA JOLLA, CA Scripps Research ranked third in the inaugural 2026 Cure Innovation In...
29/04/2026
It was a delicate job in a 150-year-old venue laden with traditions. Begun at th...
29/04/2026
In annual event, the league gives startup companies the opportunity to prove the...
29/04/2026
Panel discussions, networking, and a facility tour will take place in the renova...
29/04/2026
(L-R) Derek Drescher, Coss Marte, and Syretta Wright have each other's backs. (Micheal Hurcomb/Shutterstock for Sundance Film Festival)
By Veronika Lee Cla...
29/04/2026
Some people stumble into their passion. Julissa Padilla walked straight into a film vault. For her, entertainment was never just about the movies themselves. It...
29/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/04/2026
Clear-Com has appointed Brian Grahn as Market Outreach Manager of the Americas and Ben Turnwell as Business Development Manager for EMEA live, expanding their ...
29/04/2026
nxtedition is bringing its range of consolidated production tools to MPTS 2026, with new developments spanning transcription, editing, graphics and AI-assisted ...
29/04/2026
Quortex Switch to boost the streaming experience for Telxius customers, reaching millions of viewers worldwide
Synamedia and Telxius, the leading global connec...
29/04/2026
freispace, the leading ERP-as-a-Service platform for media and entertainment production, and Projective, a leading provider of post-production collaboration tec...
29/04/2026
DHD reports strong interest in its broadcast audio product range, exhibited at the April 19th-22nd NAB Show in Las Vegas. The event attracted a claimed 58,000 a...
29/04/2026
Student Spotlight: Alan Catz The Argentine film and game composer talks about working on League of Legends, receiving Berklee's BMI Award, and the lifelon...
29/04/2026
Jay Jennings Builds the Worlds You Hear on Screen The supervising sound designer behind A Minecraft Movie, The Meg, Letters from Iwo Jima, and dozens of other...
29/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/04/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
29/04/2026
Back to All News
SUPERNOVA: GENESIS Reached a Peak Audience of More Than 6.5 Mi...
29/04/2026
Jin-Quan Yu elected to the National Academy of Sciences Yu is recognized for his pioneering work in synthetic organic chemistry.
April 28, 2026
LA JOLLA, CA S...
28/04/2026
The audio team for the entertainment event must blend speech intelligibility with full-range music reproduction while considering the broadcast
Last week's...
28/04/2026
The Pac-12 Conference has released an updated primary mark and logo as the starting point of the new league's brand identity. The mark was soft-launched acr...
28/04/2026
The DP World Tour and Amazon Leo have signed an agreement making Amazon's lo...
28/04/2026
Pixellot and HELIOS have announced an integration that automatically converts full-game hockey video into individualized shift videos for each athlete, without ...
28/04/2026
Daktronics has partnered with the Asheville Tourists to manufacture and install a new LED video display. The installation was completed in late 2025 and is now ...
28/04/2026
Eutelsat has announced the renewal of its partnership with PCTV, a content aggregation and distribution company in Mexico and part of Megacable Holdings, for co...
28/04/2026
Daktronics has partnered with the Gary SouthShore RailCats to install a new LED video display at U.S. Steel Yard, replacing the previous Daktronics display inst...
28/04/2026
Telos Alliance and the College Radio Foundation have announced that WWSU-FM of W...
28/04/2026
Golf viewership is growing. The 2025 Ryder Cup drew five million viewers in the UK, a 45% increase over the 2023 event. The US Open was the most streamed golf e...
28/04/2026
The CW Network and WWE, part of TKO Group Holdings (NYSE: TKO), have announced t...
28/04/2026
The Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS) has announced that the Internet Protocol Media Experience (IPMX) suite of standards and specifications has been named...
28/04/2026
The 2026 NAB Show is in the books and the show once again served up a cavalcade ...
28/04/2026
Gray Media and RAJ Sports have announced Rose City SportsNet (RCSN), a new netwo...