Riot Games turns to Appear for esports broadcasts

Riot Games has turned to Appear’s X Platform for its esports broadcasts. 

Its production facility in Dublin, Ireland, which opened in 2022 and is managed by Gravity Media, is using the X Platform for events such as the League Of Legends Esports and the Valorant Champions Tour. X Platform will also be used at a second remote broadcast centre that will be opened in Seattle, Washington, later this year.

X Platform is a platform for video networking, enhanced IP security and advanced compression for the remote production, contribution and distribution. Its SMPTE 2110 native connectivity for AVC/HEVC encoders and decoders, with SMPTE 2022-7 and NMOS support, enabled Riot to seamlessly migrate from its previous SDI-only solution. Riot Games will continue to use X Platform to support high-capacity remote productions utilizing Transport Stream over IP with FEC (TSoIP), and SRT gateways where needed to support different network types.

James Wyld, principal infrastructure engineer at Riot Games, said: “Appear was the ideal solution on the market that met our demanding requirements for high density encode and delivery of AVC/HEVC signals to and from our new, cutting edge broadcast facilities. More specifically, the native ability to exchange these feeds directly with our 2110 IP networks has allowed us to greatly simplify a workflow that previously required an additional layer of IP gateway devices.

“In addition to this, being able to encode, package, and deliver over multiple network paths simultaneously adds a layer of resilience that our broadcasts require. We run a mix of different delivery strategies to support our productions across the globe, and having a flexible platform allows us to support multiple scenarios in the field. While our facilities are entirely IP based, we need to support a mix of technologies for acquisition of our feeds in-venue, so relying on the same tools for both SDI and IP workflows makes our complex workflows easier to manage for our operators.”

Appear’s general manager for North America, Ed McGivern, added: “We had previously shadowed the production operations of major League of Legends tournaments over multiple types of networks and had received nothing but positive results and feedback. We’re excited to be the trusted partner to deliver this content at scale and support Riot Games’ global network of remote productions – helping set the quality and value benchmarks for esports.”