New Audiences Experience the Excitement of Esports

The use of TriCaster and NDI in esports broadcasting provides a flexible, efficient, and powerful solution that can handle the complex and dynamic nature of live esports productions.
(Image credit: Vizrt)

Home to video game giants, Japan is a global video game powerhouse, but the size of its esports market has historically trailed behind the rest of the world. However, the appetite for esports is growing exponentially and new audiences are demanding more live, high-octane content.

Japan’s esports market value has boomed by 70 percent in the past few years. With a drive to “make people and society happy through gaming,” GLOE Inc. sought out the next-generation video production and live streaming capabilities enabled by TriCaster and NDI to scale the dynamic esports landscape to new audiences.

With its incorporation in 2021, GLOE Inc. was born out of the expertise of two leading organizations: Wellplayed, known for various esports tournaments including the Wellplayed League; and RIZeST, the managing minds behind domestic esports leagues and tournaments including the League of Legends Japan League.

Founded by president Yuya Tanida and director/member of the board Kiyoshi Harada, GLOE Inc. has evolved to expand into streaming esports events. The company, which is regularly behind the Esports X Stage at the Tokyo Game Show, was responsible for its detailed technical system and live streaming capabilities.

With an unrivaled understanding of Japan’s esports landscape, GLOE Inc. has expertise in managing professional gamers and live commentators, hosting tournaments and facilities, and contributing to educational initiatives in the field. Naturally, these scores of credits often see the company responsible for handling world-scale tournaments in Japan.

TriCaster 2 Elite, with its eight M/E buses, caters to GLOE Inc.’s heavy compositing needs that other switchers struggle to handle with accuracy, making it an essential tool for the fast-paced nature of the company's esports events.

(Image credit: Vizrt)

A Live Production Solution

As the country’s leading gaming lifestyle company, GLOE Inc. needed a live production solution that could bring engaging esports content to new audiences with seamless accuracy and high production value. They grappled with well-known challenges in esports production, including a way to manage high volumes of captions and in-game switching.

With many players and scenes, accurately updating captions in real-time is a complex and unpredictable task. Displaying the correct captions at the right time is challenging, as is determining their size, which is dependent on a scene and how it is presented. In fighting games, it’s also difficult to pre-determine which character a player will use before a match, requiring preparation for quick changes.

The challenges extend to angles shown to audiences. Esports demands the need for in-game camera switching to create an engaging story by delivering images that the audience wants to see. This is essential to communicate the perspective of the right character at the right time—an interchanging, fast-paced activity that is difficult to manage manually.

With the specific need for an automated in-game switching system enabled by an API, real-time caption support, and a streamlined production setup, GLOE Inc. worked with one of Vizrt’s regional partners to ensure streaming success.

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Harada was familiar with the TriCaster—an experience that later influenced choosing the system to support the complex task of compositing for esports broadcasting.

Leveraging the system’s increased output capacity, an abundance of Mix/Effects (M/E), and full HD 60p compatibility, the company’s esports studio is fully now equipped to handle any game. TriCaster 2 Elite, with its eight M/E buses, caters to GLOE Inc.’s heavy compositing needs that other switchers struggle to handle with accuracy, making it an essential tool for the fast-paced nature of the company's esports events.

The system’s macro functionality also now enables operators to control captions at their preferred timings and with great accuracy, eliminating the need for manual timing alignment with the TriCaster operator and reducing the risk of broadcasting errors.

"We primarily use the TriCaster for switching camera footage and in-game cameras," Harada said, explaining how its compositing capabilities surpass other equipment in these areas. "We can incorporate up to eight layers for a mix effect—a unique feature of the TriCaster 2 Elite that we always rely on. Utilizing NDI for caption delivery offers a streamlined workflow. It allows for the integration of captions directly into the TriCaster without using up physical input ports, freeing up resources for other needs.”

With the TriCaster at the core of its infrastructure, GLOE Inc. is ideally positioned to accommodate the needs of esports events, both today and in the coming years. In the future, GLOE Inc.’s plans include enhancing its technical team's capabilities and exploring higher-quality broadcast programs.

“The use of TriCaster and NDI in esports broadcasting provides a flexible, efficient, and powerful solution that can handle the complex and dynamic nature of live esports productions,” Harada concluded. “These tools enable broadcasters to manage multiple aspects of the production seamlessly, and adapt to the fast-paced and varied requirements of esports events.”

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