Riot Games, the most player-focused game developer and publisher in the world, has expanded its footprint in Dublin with an official opening for the first of three Remote Broadcast Centres (RBCs) making up Project Stryker, an innovative approach to global broadcast production powered by Amazon Web Services (AWS) that will transform live esports productions on a global scale.
Based in Swords, the European headquarters for Riot’s Project Stryker is the culmination of an €18.5 million investment by the world’s leading esports company that will increase capacity for Riot’s esports content and events while also lowering operational costs, and ensure top-tier quality and consistency across all esports productions, delivering a best-in-class viewing experience to 145 million fans around the world.
At the opening on Wednesday 20th of July , Riot Games announced Project Stryker will employ a further 120 people in addition to its 165 employees in Ireland.
The esports industry is expanding rapidly with current projections that the sector will hit almost *€1.7 billion in 2022.
John Needham, President of Esports at Riot Games said, “This is truly an exciting day for Riot Games and the future of esports. Project Stryker has come a long way from a visionary concept three years in the making to this incredible state-of-the-art creative space that further extends Riot’s footprint in the city and showcases the deep ties to entertainment and innovation found in Dublin. We could not have selected a better location for our European headquarters for Project Stryker.”
Three years in development, the Dublin RBC of Project Stryker serves as a central broadcasting hub for both regional and global live esports productions across Riot’s trio of esports titles: League of Legends Esports (LoL Esports), VALORANT Esports, and Wild Rift Esports. Broadcast feeds from live esports competitions happening around the world can be sent to the Dublin RBC where the content is produced, broadcast, and distributed in multiple languages. Ireland is the first of just three global locations chosen by Riot Games as the location for Project Stryker RBCs. The country is ideally placed as the European HQ for Project Stryker due to the quality of its infrastructure, position in the European market, talent pool and strategic location as part of the esports global ecosystem.
The Remote Broadcast Model offers efficiency in terms of lower operational costs and guarantees a standard of broadcast quality across all content. Under a “follow the sun” approach, the RBCs will facilitate the production and broadcast of esports content 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.
Located at the former Wright Venue in Swords, regarded as one of Dublin’s most iconic entertainment establishments, Project Stryker can provide over 230,000 production hours annually for broadcast production, engineering, event, audio, graphic design and esports professionals. The RBC is Riot’s second footprint in Dublin, joining its City Centre office that employs 165 individuals specialising in business operations, development, engineering, localisation, and information security.
The 6,000-plus square metre facility is equipped with six control rooms to enable it to broadcast six live events (at an event scale each similar to the Super Bowl ) simultaneously across multiple time zones. Content is edited in real-time, and each broadcast is also translated into the local language, depending on the country in which it is being broadcast.
Allyson Gormley, General Manager, Project Stryker said,
“Project Stryker is a ground-breaking next-generation project that will revolutionise how content is produced and broadcast. The quality of the technologies and the model adopted is a game-changer. Three years in the making, Project Stryker is the culmination of a commitment by Riot Games to continuous innovation and to provide the best possible playing and viewing experience for our fans.
“There has been a tremendous growth in esports, which requires a similar level of skills, commitment, and dedication to what one could call “traditional sports.” The entertainment value, the opportunity for connection and to be part of something bigger are among the primary factors driving the popularity of esports.
“Dublin is now at the forefront of a new frontier and the team will be part of an exciting new chapter in live broadcasting. Our always-on 24 entertainment broadcast model reflects the changing needs and desires of audiences”
“Dublin is an ideal location to support this growth- with an exceptional talent pool, ease of doing business and key strategic position making it the perfect hub for the first of the Riot Games trio of RBCs. The skills required as part of the esports industry are many and the creation of 120 plus roles in Dublin, adding to our existing workforce, reflects the commitment of Riot Games and Project Stryker to Ireland.”