
Overwatch League Grand Finals: Project Aloha, Cloud Workflows Are Key to Transcontinental Production Analysts are onsite in Honolulu while players, casters, and crew are spread across the globe By Jason Dachman, Chief Editor
Friday, September 24, 2021 - 2:59 pm
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
It has been wild ride for Activision Blizzard Esports' Broadcast Technology Group during the 2021 Overwatch League Season. After producing OWL regular-season matches online and from Project Aloha in Honolulu using its cloud-based, remote-production model, the Group had been prepping for the OWL Playoffs in Dallas and Los Angeles, its first live, in-person matches in more than two years. However, when the Delta variant of COVID-19 hindered those plans, the Broadcast Technology Group pivoted quickly for a return to Honolulu to broadcast the playoffs, which conclude with tomorrow's OWL Grand Final.
The OWL Playoffs feature analysts on-site in Honolulu manning a set at the Moana Surfrider Resort.
When the [in-person events] were canceled, we had only about two weeks to pivot the entire show, says Corey Smith, director, live operations, Broadcast Technology Group, Activision Blizzard Esports. The fact that the team was able to get it done was nothing short of a miracle. We simply wouldn't have been able to do it without the cloud and all the work we had already put in to develop [remote workflows]. We couldn't have been orchestrating trucks and satellite uplinks and coordinating fiber drops in that small of a window. We just didn't have the time to turn around that traditional type of infrastructure. We had to do it with cloud production.
Project Aloha: A Unified Champion Thanks to Hawaii-Tokyo Connection After being forced to have regional champions in Asia and U.S./Europe last year because of travel restrictions and transcontinental bandwidth challenges, Tomorrow's OWL Grand Finals will crown a unified global champion for the first time since 2019.
To pull this season off, Activision Blizzard Esports (ABE) partnered with the University of Hawaii M noa to launch Project Aloha, a competition model in which teams could compete live between Honolulu and Asia. The university provided access to a high-capacity trans-Pacific subsea fiber cable between Tokyo and Honolulu, allowing players to compete online with near-zero latency.
Project Aloha allowed us to combine the teams from North America and Asia for competitive matchmaking, which was great because we weren't able to do that last season, notes Smith. We obviously didn't want to end this season again by crowning separate champions in Asia and North America, so Hawaii allowed us to conclude the season in a way that made sense.
Onsite in Honolulu: Analyst Desk Heads to Waikiki Beach During this week's OWL Playoffs, for the first time at Project Aloha, analysts are located onsite in Honolulu, delivering live coverage during broadcasts from its set on the balcony of the penthouse suite at the Moana Surfrider Resort.
OWL Playoffs coverage spans the globe with interviews across multiple continents.
The big challenge here for the set was connectivity at the top of the Moana Surfrider, says Senior Technical Manager Ryan Cole, one of the few crew members onsite in Honolulu. [The hotel] cannot support the network at the level and scale we needed at the penthouse, so we ended working with the Marriott folks and some onsite vendors to setup two point-to-point [wireless bridges] from different locations around the island to the suite to get the network connectivity we needed. And it has been going really well.
A small crew is also on hand in Honolulu: the production team manning the Moana Surfrider set and the competition room at the UH M noa, four editors located at the Sheraton Waikiki, an ENG team shooting behind-the-scenes content with the teams, and IT and operations staff. UH M noa students are also playing a role in the productions and getting hands-on experience in a live-esports-broadcast environment.
OWL observers remote into cloud-based VMs in both South Korea and Los Angeles.
At the UH M noa where teams compete, ABE has deployed Always-On Player POV cameras for each player, a wide shot of the competition room, two handheld cameras, and ambient microphones throughout the room. In addition, the broadcast will incorporate Player POV cams and shots from the competition rooms in China and South Korea.
We're focused on making this feel like it's truly a Grand Finals and not just another Overwatch league show, says Smith. We're upping the scale of the show as much as possible. We owe it to the teams, the players, and the community that's watching to polish it up and do whatever we can do to entertain them in a new and different way.
Spanning the Globe: How the Cloud Brings It All Together Nearly the entire production team, meanwhile, remains remote and continues to use ABE's cloud-based production workflow. This production model allows the production crew and casters to continue to work entirely from home, from locations across the mainland U.S., Hawaii, South Korea, and China.
Observers use remote stations like this one to tell the story as in-game camera operators
The cloud production ecosystem is built around vMix live-video-streaming software and uses software-based Unity intercom, Viz Trio graphics in the cloud, and Parsec remote-desktop software. ABE also created its own master-control platform - dubbed Echo - which can distribute multiple regionalized feeds with different graphics and commercial insertion for each region.
Observers - the camera operators who cut the in-game action and are integral to the broadcast - remote into cloud-based VMs in both South Korea and Los Angeles, which provide them with ultra-low-latency connections.
OWL's
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
09/10/2026
September 10 2026, 06:00 (PDT) Dolby Expands Dolby OptiView Platform with New Capabilities at IBC 2026
New Sports Intelligence helps providers better unders...
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...
23/09/2026
Four control rooms support B1G+ streams, videoboard shows, creative content, and...
23/09/2026
By Andrew Cohen, SVG Coorespondant
The Mountain West debuted its new Replay Operations Center at the start of this football season, bringing real-time collabor...
23/09/2026
The Taylorville, IL, native is pushing creative boundaries at Ball State, gaining reps across directing, technical directing, tape, and more than 100 ESPN+ broa...
23/09/2026
Alexander Heller, Nevada Jose, Will Brill, and Giselle Bonilla pose with cast members at The Musical premiere during the 2026 Sundance Film Festival at Eccles...
23/09/2026
Includes natural and processed patches
The Crow Hill Company's latest sample library captures a children's choir comprising a troupe of boys perform...
23/09/2026
Plug-in offers six bands of saturation
Kreuzberg Audio's product range includes a selection of plug-ins and virtual instruments aimed primarily at hard-...
23/09/2026
Latest DAW update now live
SoundBridge have announced that the latest update for the remote-collaboration-focused DAW is now available. The release of Sound...
23/09/2026
Koori Knockout returns home exclusively to NITV and SBS On Demand in 2026
11 September, 2026
Media releases
Fans can catch all the live action exclusively ...
23/09/2026
Rohde & Schwarz acquires NEOSAT and PHYTRONIC and strengthens its competencies i...
23/09/2026
1. ABOUT THE PROGRAMME
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) invites applications from experienced producers who own or manage a South African product...
23/09/2026
The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) is pleased to announce the opening...
23/09/2026
Download Now!
To receive a short case study showcasing NHK Technologies, Inc. (NT) s audio setup, please enter the following details:
--
First Name* Fir...
23/09/2026
Nielsen CMI data reveals a changing fast-food landscape, with value, convenience...
23/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/09/2026
COW Jobs: Blender on Windows - Generalist - Remote
Brie Clayton September 23, 2026
0 Comments
Application Users - Blender on Windows - Generalist
Se...
23/09/2026
Version 1.8 recognised for new workflow tools, boosted control panel flexibility and ease of integration into IP networks...
23/09/2026
Hiltron Communications reports a successful 2026 International Broadcasting Convention, held at the RAI Amsterdam. Exhibiting on stand A37 in Hall 1, Hiltron ex...
23/09/2026
Reinforcing its long-term commitment to the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) broadcast market, LiveU is presenting the Q Era at CABSAT 2026, on Stand H1-D35 ...
23/09/2026
Agence France-Presse (AFP), a global news agency, and Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced a partnersh...
23/09/2026
Berklee Connect Unlocks the Power of a Global Network Katie Vitolins BM '04 knows firsthand what Berklee's alumni community can make possible. Now she...
23/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
23/09/2026
Westminster Schools, a K through 12 school in Atlanta, Georgia with approximately 2,000 students, has transformed its student broadcast and digital storytelling...
23/09/2026
The 2026 edition of CABSAT and SATExpo may have a new home and dates in the diary, but it still retains a strong presence from UK companies in the GREAT Britain...
23/09/2026
Glensound will return to CABSAT with new developments in professional monitoring and Dante interfacing, alongside its established commentary, esports and parlia...
23/09/2026
A great watch - Radio Times
TV's most likeable proper bloke - Daily Telegraph
23rd September 2026, London: Guy Martin returns to free streaming service...
23/09/2026
Wednesday 23 September 2026
Sky Sports to show England Men's tour of South ...
23/09/2026
Comscore Partners with datafuelX to Bring Seamless Currency Adoption Into a Comp...
23/09/2026
Luxembourg, 23 September 2026 - SES today announced the appointment of Mr. Michel Scholer, Secretary General of the Luxembourg Government and Chief of Staff to ...
23/09/2026
RT One and RT Player, Friday 25 September
Ceol le Ch ile, a new series that follows Irish artists as they collaborate with musicians from diverse background...
23/09/2026
Available now on RT Listen
New information has come to light in the case of mi...
23/09/2026
When Sakeena Fiza describes her work as a validation engineer at NVIDIA, she does so in terms more befitting a detective story than a world-class engineering la...
22/09/2026
From Malaysia to Mexico and from DR Congo to Ukraine, this year's 12 finalists for the 2026 Thomson Foundation Young Journalist of the Year award tell extra...
22/09/2026
The annual preseason content-gathering event brought 36 NHL players to Las Vegas, where ESPN used 2.5 kilowatts of laser power and a motion-control camera syste...
22/09/2026
Neumann has introduced the KK 104 A (cardioid) and KK 105 A (supercardioid) wireless capsule heads, succeeding the KK 204 and KK 205. The new capsules are compa...
22/09/2026
The NFL and TMRW Sports have announced a new annual Pro Flag Showcase to be held during Super Bowl LXI week in Los Angeles. The event will feature top flag foot...
22/09/2026
Washington State University has unveiled a new end zone video display and audio ...
22/09/2026
Disney's SVP of Live Operations and Engineering details the technology behin...
22/09/2026
Cosm has announced two senior promotions. Mazen Alawar has been promoted to SVP,...
22/09/2026
Mississippi State University's University Television Center has purchased four KOKUSAI DENKI SK-UHD7000-S2 cameras since 2024, with plans to add two more, a...
22/09/2026
Net Insight has announced that Christine Kjellvard will assume the role of interim Chief Financial Officer on November 1, 2026. Kjellvard has previously held in...
22/09/2026
Net Insight has announced Zyntai TimeNode Access, a compact PTP Grandmaster designed for distributed edge sites. The product carries secure, precise time across...
22/09/2026
Sam Hazeldine, Austin Amelio, Padraic McKinley, Julia Jones, and Ethan Hawke attend the premiere of The Weight at The Ray Theatre on January 26, 2026, in Park...