Created in a collaboration between the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and various international sports federations and video game publishers, the first-ever Olympic Esports Week was hosted recently in Singapore’s Suntec Convention & Exhibition Centre. The culmination of global qualifying rounds over previous months, this was four days of rounds of console, mobile and PC games, as well as VR sports such as Taekwondo, cycling, and archery. Esports gamers and VR athletes from around the world competed live with an audience of 20,000.

With varying content throughout the programme, the Olympic Esports Week presented a challenge to its audio team. As is traditional in any Olympic event, the competition was bookended by opening and closing ceremonies yet, unlike most, these ceremonies were presented in L-ISA Immersive Hyperreal Sound.

With a festival-like atmosphere, entertainment between the main competitions included live DJ sessions and booths hosted by developers and publishers containing interactive gaming stations where gamers and eSports fans could engage in their own competitions. Everything was also streamed live to the IOC’s YouTube channels.

Singapore live event and theatre company Presplay – known for producing local events like the Singapore Bicentennial and the WTA Finals – led the creative production for the week-long event and turned to sound designer Jeffrey Yue of Ctrl Fre@k to create the sonic atmosphere. A technical brief from Presplay Creative Director Beatrice Chia-Richmond showed Yue that the event would challenge optimum sound design.

‘The stage design included three LED screens stretching across the entire width of the main stage. My sound system design needed to complement these elements without interfering with audience sightline,’ Yue explains.

He knew that lengthy arrays of loudspeakers in a left/right configuration would not provide optimal coverage to the wide audience seating area. He also needed to contend with height limitations in the hall. These challenges sparked an opportunity for Yue to design an L-ISA immersive loudspeaker configuration, using smaller hangs spread above the wide screens, giving the opening and closing ceremonies the full benefit of spatial sound and creating an immersive atmosphere worthy of the best gaming experience.

The ceremonies featured in-person and virtual speeches from the IOC and Singapore dignitaries, alongside dance performances and sets from Shigga Shay and Aisyah Aziz. Yue knew that L-ISA spatial technology would deliver audio fit for an audience accustomed to the latest audio and visual technology.

‘If we think about audio in gaming today, it’s immersive. All gamers, even at home, rely on a combination of music and sound effects that fly around them in their headsets throughout the game. That is the standard. So, it’s only natural to present immersive audio to a live gaming audience,’ Yue says.

He needed to be ready for a narrow rehearsal window on site, so he worked closely with the creative team, preparing content using L-ISAStudio on his laptop, then brought his mixes to the L-ISA Auditoria at Concept Systems, an L-Acoustics Certified Provider Distributor in Singapore. Working with Daniel Lee, Application Project Engineer for L-ISA at L-Acoustics, and Gerald Fong of Concept Systems, Yue began crafting the immersive mix while the main stage was in construction. He then finalised the mix at the venue on the L-Acoustics A Series-based L-ISA loudspeaker configuration.

The ceremony hit the mark with attendees for being an immersive, cinematic multi-media experience. ‘I was confident that the system would deliver dynamic sound for the different content needs of both eSports and the event programmes,’ Yue says. ‘Without the technological infrastructure and product knowledge from Concept Systems and the L‑Acoustics APAC technical team based in Singapore, I wouldn’t have been able to tap into invaluable resources to pull off this complex project.’

‘Jeffrey’s technical expertise in crafting creative audio solutions for this inaugural global eSport event allowed us to fulfil the requirements of the IOC and wow audiences,’ says Chia-Richmond. ‘Having the L-ISA immersive experience for the opening ceremony allowed our audience to sit back, relax, and enjoy all the gaming action.’