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
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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
