How GLOE Inc. brings esports to new audiences in Japan with Vizrt

Home to video game giants Nintendo and Sony, 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 the excitement of esports is growing exponentially and new audiences are demanding greater volumes of high-octane, live content.

With its incorporation in 2021, GLOE Inc. (formerly known as Wellplayed Rizest Inc.) was born out of the expertise of two leading organizations. Pioneering esports company, Wellplayed, known for various esports tournaments including the Wellplayed League, joined forces with RIZeST, the managing minds behind domestic esports leagues and tournaments including the League of Legends Japan League (LJL).

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

Expanding the esports horizon

Originating in the fighting game community, set up by founders, President Mr. Yuya Tanida, and Director / Member of the Board Mr. Kiyoshi Harada, GLOE Inc. has evolved to expand its interests into streaming esports events. As the company regularly behind the Esports X Stage at the Tokyo Game Show, the company 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.

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.

Defeating the challenges in live streaming

Prior to integrating TriCaster and NDI solutions, GLOE Inc. grappled with well-known intricate challenges in esports production, including a way to manage high volumes of captions and in-game switching.

With a large number of 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 wholly 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 also extend to the stories and streaming viewpoints 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. In fighting games in particular, 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.

Leveling up with TriCaster®

The company’s Director / Member of the Board, Mr. Kiyoshi Harada, first encountered the TriCaster when utilizing a rented TriCaster Mini HDMI to broadcast a card game. It was this experience that later influenced the company’s choice to use a TriCaster 2 Elite advanced video production platform 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 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.

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“We primarily use the TriCaster for switching camera footage and in-game cameras,” Mr. Harada explains, mentioning its compositing capabilities surpassing other equipment in these areas. “We can incorporate up to 8 layers for a mix effect, a unique feature of the TriCaster 2 Elite that we always rely on” Mr. Harada

The unparalleled flexibility of NDI®

To tackle the vast quantity of captions involved in esports, GLOE Inc. selected NDI’s IP-based video transmission technology in connection with the TriCaster to manage thousands of captions with incredible accuracy at any given time.

With captions needing to be prepared for real-time updates as the show unfolds, and a need to integrate with social media APIs to collect hashtag comments or conduct polls, the flexibility offered by NDI and the company’s TriCaster-enabled setup is robust.

Now, information is prepared for captions via various systems – including Karisma CG, Vizrt, and Adobe PhotoShop & Premiere – on two PCs connected via NDI. Meanwhile, the NDI Tools suite greatly streamlines the setup, testing, and management of the NDI streams.

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“Utilizing NDI for caption delivery offers a streamlined workflow. It allows for the integration of captions directly into the TriCaster system without using up physical input ports, freeing up resources for other needs. The ability to handle a large number of captions – crucial in esports – is also enhanced by NDI’s flexibility, which includes the ability to manage different captioning tools and adapt to fast-changing broadcast needs.” Mr. Harada

Macro function and seamless management

With Vizrt TriCaster and NDI at the core of its infrastructure, GLOE Inc. is ideally positioned to accommodate the needs of esports events now – and however they might develop in the coming years.

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“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,” concludes Mr. Harada. “These tools enable broadcasters to manage multiple aspects of the production seamlessly, and adapt to the fast-paced and varied requirements of esports events” Mr. Harada

Looking ahead, GLOE Inc. plans to enhance its technical team’s capabilities, explore higher-quality broadcast programs, continue work on its studio development, and improve the structure and data aggregation for international broadcasts.

To find out more about TriCaster 2 Elite and other Vizrt products, visit the: www.vizrt.com or contact us.