This past weekend, Lee \u201cFaker\u201d Sang-hyeok, the most famous pro gamer in the world, captured his fourth League of Legends<\/em> world championship as his team, T1, defeated rivals Weibo Gaming in front of a home crowd at the Gocheok Sky Dome in Seoul. It was an impressive display but, as always, one of the most exciting parts of the experience happened before the matches even began.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The opening ceremony for Worlds is a chance for developer Riot Games to mash up bleeding-edge tech with performances from some of music\u2019s biggest names. This time around, the event featured K-pop stars NewJeans<\/a> and some impressive augmented reality. But the biggest star was also, well, the biggest: a 110-meter-long LED display featured throughout.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cUsing that surface, we\u2019re aiming to create really immersive environments,\u201d says Carrie Dunn, Riot\u2019s creative director for global esports. \u201cSo it\u2019s not just about portraying information. It\u2019s about making the audience feel like they\u2019ve been transported.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The 13-minute-long ceremony (which you can watch above) was split into a few different sections. It started with a prerecorded cinematic in which a League<\/em> player made their way from playing the game in their bedroom to being transported through a portal to the Worlds stage. From there, the musical aspect began with Heartsteel \u2014 a newly created virtual boy band made up of alternate versions of popular League<\/em> characters<\/a>. First, there were real singers and rappers performing the song \u201cParanoia.\u201d Then, a (virtual) car crashed into the huge screen, shattering it, while AR versions of the group appeared onstage.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n It was a chance for Riot to utilize techniques it had already made use of in the past. At the opening ceremony in 2021<\/a>, for instance, the entire performance was a cinematic of Imagine Dragons performing on an elaborate set since in-person events weren\u2019t possible at the time. The year before, in Shanghai, the virtual K-pop band K\/DA made an appearance onstage via AR<\/a>. \u201cWe\u2019re kind of remixing [these ideas] and applying them in different ways,\u201d says Dunn.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The difference this time was the massive display, which wrapped around the stage and allowed Riot to create a convincing virtual backdrop. The stage itself was pretty simple; there wasn\u2019t much to it other than some rocks embedded around the base of the display \u2014 which, Riot notes, were hand-carved \u2014 meant to blur the transition from the real world to the fantasy world on-screen. Because of this, the screen had to do a lot of the heavy lifting, depicting large, detailed fantasy settings ripped right out of the League<\/em> universe. \u201cIt just creates the sense of realism,\u201d explains Dunn. \u201cIt helps us transport the audience and make it feel like this isn\u2019t just something happening onstage.\u201d <\/em>Think of it like the virtual sets for shows like The Mandalorian<\/em><\/a> <\/em>or the upcoming Avatar: The Last Airbender<\/em><\/a>. <\/em>(In totally unsurprising news, Riot has also utilized that tech in the past<\/a>.)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Last year in San Francisco, Riot used holograms to make it appear as if a gigantic mech was lifting Lil Nas X into the air<\/a>. This year featured a similar spectacle but with a shift to AR. Following Heartsteel\u2019s performance was a surprise rendition of \u201cRise\u201d \u2014 a popular Worlds anthem from 2018<\/a> \u2014 which was accompanied by a 90-foot-tall version of League<\/em> character Mordekaiser standing in the crowd. As the screen behind showed an expansive ruined landscape, a character onstage fought against the AR villain with some clever choreographed dance moves.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Image: Tina Jo \/ Riot Games<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n And then came NewJeans. The K-pop group was an interesting choice for an event like Worlds; while they\u2019re popular, they are also known for laid-back \u201890\u2019s-style pop and R&B. That\u2019s pretty different than the epic-sounding anthems that have accompanied the opening ceremonies over the years. When you mash those two styles together, you get a track called \u201cGods,\u201d which closed out the event.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI really enjoyed the process of trying a new sound, precisely because it was different from the style of music that our listeners now associate NewJeans with,\u201d says NewJeans\u2019 Minji. \u201cThe lyrics also resonated with me more strongly once I learned about the stories behind them. Through the lyrics, we could feel the intense efforts players put into League<\/em> and their competitive spirit, both in the professional scene and in everyday life, so we did our best to capture and reflect that same spirit in the song.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cIt really is brought to life in a different way\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Onstage, the band was set against the backdrop of ancient ruins before the camera zoomed high in the sky, revealing a glowing moon. As they sang, the AR battle continued, with Mordekaiser ultimately being defeated in a bright explosion before the two competing teams \u2014 and the trophy they were fighting for<\/a> \u2014 were revealed. For NewJeans\u2019 Hanni, it\u2019s that combination of sounds and style that makes a collaboration like this really work.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cI strongly believe that music and visuals not only complement each other, but also go hand in hand,\u201d she explains. \u201cThe League of Legends<\/em> universe is inherently immersive, but when music comes to support the specific elements of it, like the champions, the world, or the pro players, it really is brought to life in a different way. And personally, I think the history of collaboration with many different, amazing artists adds another layer of richness to the listening experience for fans.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n As for Dunn, as soon as the event was over, her mind had already shifted to what was next, with the 2024 edition of Worlds kicking off in London next year. \u201cAs <\/em>soon as last year\u2019s show is over, even at the after-party, all of us start talking amongst ourselves,\u201d she says. \u201cHow are we going to top this one?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n