Overwatch League is Blizzard Entertainment’s first foray into a franchised competitive league based around their popular first-person shooter, Overwatch. Drawing from our breadth of past experience and incorporating clever in-game lighting cues, Lightswitch created a dynamic and fun environment that matched the energy of the game and the watching crowd, bringing the bright and hopeful spirit of the game into the live arena.
Overwatch League is Blizzard Entertainment’s first foray into a franchised competitive league based around their popular first-person shooter, Overwatch. This fast-paced, expansively-mapped game is ultimately about hope, carrying the tagline “The world could always use more heroes” to promote the idea that everyone has a chance to be a hero in their own way. For its 2018 and 2019 seasons, Overwatch League was filmed at Burbank Studios Studio 1 in front of a live audience. Both years, the finals were held at full-scale arenas.
Lightswitch immersed the Overwatch audience within the lighting, creating a bright atmosphere to reflect the in-game visuals and utilizing the lighting rig to create a dynamic experience for both the live audience and broadcast viewers. We also integrated key game-play moments, such as overtime and team wins, to automatically trigger the lighting rig through the actual code of the game. This meant that exciting game moments were seamlessly punctuated by lighting shifts. These shifts — such as flashing lights signaling a game going into overtime — thoroughly transformed the atmosphere of the room, communicating to both audience and players the rising stakes of the competition.
We made sure to evenly light the players and talent while not distracting from or hindering their experiences. Our team also worked with band lighting designers to smoothly integrate musical performances. For each part of the event, we made sure that the players and onstage talent appeared natural and vibrant to both the live and remote audiences.
Drawing from our breadth of past experience and incorporating clever in-game lighting cues, Lightswitch successfully kept Overwatch players lit for the broadcast while not blinding them during gameplay. Beyond this technical feat, we also created a dynamic and fun environment that matched the energy of the game and the watching crowd, bringing the bright and hopeful spirit of the game into the live arena.
