60 ESPORTS BLAST Production
Words by Neal Romanek ESPORTS ON THE STRIP The new HyperX Esports Arena at the Luxor in Las Vegas went online last year for high-quality esports tournaments – so high-quality broadcast gear was brought in
here else for esports but Las Vegas? There’s a lot of money to be made in that digital desert and the entrepreneurs
esports venue on the Las Vegas Strip and is already becoming a major draw, with the Allied/HyperX strategy slogan ‘We’re all gamers’. The projections for revenue are enormous: last year, Allied held a Fortnite tournament that broke Twitch’s all-time concurrent viewer record. Drew Ohlmeyer, head of content at Allied Esports International, says: “Our mission was to build a turnkey infrastructure to do many different live events, as well as produce content in a style and quality that meets or exceeds current broadcast standards.”
The partnership between Allied Esports and HyperX goes further, with HyperX becoming the Official Peripheral and Arena Partner for the arena, equipping gamers with HyperX headsets, mice, keyboards and mouse mats for esports tournaments, special events and daily play. HyperX was also an official partner of Allied Esports’ North American mobile esports truck last summer, which stopped at pop culture events around the US, including E3 in Los Angeles and VidCon 2018 in Anaheim. GETTING IT RIGHT Allied chose CBT Systems as its integrator for the arena, which was converted from a former nightclub space. CBT Systems has lots of experience building workflows for broadcast, production, sports and AV and is increasingly asked to design high-quality workflows for large-scale live productions. For the 30,000 sq ft HyperX Arena, CBTS designed and built a workflow that is capable of supporting weekly 1080p 59.94fps tournament live streams to in- house displays and externally to Twitch. As CBTS president Darrell Wenhardt explains: “There’s a tremendous amount
of Sin City know an opportunity when they see it. Now, esports will join other headline sporting events with a new esports stadium in Las Vegas. A year ago, Allied Esports partnered with HyperX (the gaming division of Kingston Technology Corporation) to open a sprawling new esports venue at the Luxor Hotel & Casino. The new HyperX Esports Arena Las Vegas is the first dedicated
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