Riot has transformed the esports arena into a new Valorant league

This weekend is important for brave esports, with the launch of a new professional league for teams across North America, Latin America and Brazil. The VCT Americas League debut, as it is known, will also be the first brave The games were conducted live and in person in North America. This meant that Riot had to redesign its Los Angeles studio to be more advanced and flexible to accommodate the league it shares the space with. league of legends – The new esports arena can transform.

Formerly known as LCS Arena, the space was for years home to The Summit league of legends North American League (LCS). As part of the redesign, the studio space was christened Riot Games Arena. In fact, it is already in use; The most technically impressive space, with giant LED screens and ample lighting, is being used for the current LCS season, which began in January. But the space is also designed to be modular so that it can support every game’s needs And Make them look distinct from each other.

Per Jemison, Riot’s President, explains: brave Esports for the Americas region. “I think with the launch of VCT Americas there was an opportunity to virtually future-proof our production, as well as figure out how to best utilize the space for both esports, as well as indoor events and team events.”

Planning for the redesign began last September. And for the most part, the difference between brave And league of legends Broadcasts will be visible. Giant LED screens will feature different graphics, and the layout of the players themselves is slightly different; in league Teams line up side by side, while brave Face-to-face teams. You can get an idea of ​​the two layouts in the images below:

But there are some technical differences between the two as well. Most notable brave A studio version had to be designed so that three different groups of broadcast talent could simultaneously call games in three different languages. “We didn’t want to feel like the Latin American and Brazilian teams were just visiting a studio in Los Angeles,” Jemison says. “We really wanted to design the space so that it feels like it’s a broadcast of the Americas and a celebration of all regions.”

There are some other technical details – brave It requires clearer audio, for example, so fans can hear things like footsteps—but the arena’s biggest advantage is its modular design. It’s kind of like when Madison Square Garden replaces the hardwood of a basketball court with the ice rink needed for hockey, only with lots of screens and countless reels of wire. According to Dawn Pearson, who led the technology and production side of the remodel, it currently takes about two hours and 12-16 people to transform the space from league to brave vice versa. The goal is to reduce that to an hour. This speed may not be necessary at the moment, as both games have matches on different days of the week, but it could be important in the future.

“We don’t have a crystal ball about what Riot’s future for esports will look like,” says Pearson. “But successfully brave And VCT, we wanted to create a space for… who knows, in five or 10 years we might be doing esports 24 hours a day. So being able to move from one look to the next, and make efficient use of our time, was something we had in mind.”

The modular nature should allow production teams to adapt more quickly in the future. the brave The league is brand new, and the LCS is constantly changing, so there will likely be changes to setup in subsequent seasons. But space is also important to Riot’s sporting ambitions as a whole; After a few years of mixing online and in-person events, the revamped studio has become the permanent home both leagues need.

“Playing inside a crowd, in a home arena, just adds a special kind of energy that’s been missing for the last couple of years,” Jemison says.

You can see the new space when VCT Americas kicks off at 3 PM ET on April 1st.