Red Bull Levels Presents: ELDEN RING, Munich, February 2022

Red Bull Gaming and Bandai Namco Entertainment held a pre-launch event for the new "ELDEN RING" video game six days before it was due to go on sale. Five big names from the international Twitch streaming community played the action role-playing game during a hosted live show on our large xR stage at Bavaria Studios in Munich before sharing their impressions in subsequent interviews. The event was broadcast as a live stream on all streaming platforms and can still be accessed as video-on-demand on YouTube and Twitch. Over a million viewers followed the pre-launch during the eight-hour transmission – an average of 200,000 were online at any one time when the gamers entered into their first "ELDEN RING" battles and gave their subsequent reports.

Our team from Digital Media programmed large parts of Limgrave, the first location in "ELDEN RING", for our xR stage to provide a perfect, immersive experience for those following the interviews and commentary. In close cooperation with the publisher Bandai Namco and the game developers at FromSoftware, we almost completely reproduced the start location using original 3D assets and created two virtual locations that served as the studio setting.

Our main task here was to program suitable shaders and light the scenes to make them look like the original. Two versatile locations within the world were visually modified. This was necessary for creating the scenery and meeting the technical prerequisites for the xR set-up. Real-life elements such as tables and exhibits were added to the xR stage to create an even more immersive impression. The exhibits were objects created by the service provider "Blueprint Events" and can also be found within the game.

Our production created a virtual world that made it look as if the protagonists were figures in the game. At the same, it enabled unique opportunities for establishing links and allowed a great deal of flexibility and freedom as almost everything shown played out in a virtual space. We also integrated virtual screens into the scenery. These were used to show trailers and excerpts from games during the interviews and discussions. Two life-size animations of "bosses" created especially for the pre-launch event appeared beside the protagonists to add a touch of drama.

Alternating with the individual interview blocks on the xR stage – recorded by three tracked cameras – we live streamed the gaming experiences of the international guests at the real-life gaming stations positioned away from the xR stage. The five social opinion leaders and influencers sat there and told audiences on the video platforms about their initial impressions from the newly designed fantasy world. They were also involved in the discussions. It was this switching between xR stage and the gaming stations that enabled varying perspectives and an exciting production.

As well as providing content production for the four-metre-high LED surfaces around the 40-square-metre xR stage, we also produced and were responsible for the live stream for the social media platforms – including live links from Australia and showing gameplay trailers, interviews and on-screen graphics created by "the very essence".