Thread by @coreyaustinhere

The 2019 opening music act for the League of Legends World Championship takes place on the edge between the virtual and real worlds. What Gorillaz imported, Riot is clearly trying to perfect. The song is corny, but the visuals are cold as hell. Magic. #XR

2018's production () had a similar performance with a KPOP group, (G)I-DLE.

2017 was the first year Riot first tested mixed-reality in its opening ceremonies, making a dragon fly into the stadium ().

In past years, these mixed-reality performances were built with streaming in mind. Packed stadiums of real attendees only see the animations on the jumbotron, while the millions of people in the streaming and VOD audience see the magic in fullscreen.

And it's good business. In 2019 and 2018, Worlds opening ceremonies featured game characters in exclusive, new skins —essentially virtual outfits— for players to buy. 2018 revenue was $1.8 billion, primarily from skins, 3D models that cost $0 to replicate. How do they do it?

Use the infectious, global appeal of pop, KPOP and rap to turn simple promos into earworm hits.

Interplay real stars and virtual characters to make both more compelling.

Make exclusive, nerdy, hard-to-follow esports inclusive by making competitions into entertainment spectacle.

(Oh and make a good game of course. League of Legends was most played in the world for >10 years.
RIOT just announced 4 more titles. But their free-to-play games are just one of many vehicles for the real product: characters, digitally merchandised to the most people possible.)

Why care?

We're heading towards a world where we don't need screens or streams to see the virtual world. Cross-reality (XR) devices will transform the way we experience every kind of entertainment.

Riot is testing new ways to bring virtual stories to life in the real world.

Riot's not the only ones.

Today, digital zombies of Tupac, Michael Jackson, and Roy Orbison have performed in the U.S. Hologram resurrection is cool, but it sounds a bit like watching a re-released movie. You already know the story. It can't evolve. XR holds much more promise...

In 1998, a pop star and a cartoonist made Gorillaz, a band that, instead of selling a human image, performs music as imaginary characters. As figments, they have superhuman abilities. They alter their appearance as styles change. Their drummer gets possessed by popular rappers.

Gorillaz (and all virtual characters) are inherently transmedia. They exist in the aether, the space *between* music videos, the internet, comics, games, or any other format. In 2006, Gorillaz gave the first hologram concert stateside at the Grammys.

In 2000 (nearly 20 years ago now), another kind of software was quietly singing its first words. Vocaloid, a singing synthesis technology developed by Yamaha, might have remained a tinny-sounding curiosity were it not for Crypton Future Media, another character company.

Crypton made three voices for Vocaloid, the third of which they named Hatsune Miku (translated, "the first sound of the future"). Given an anime avatar and the voice of an anime actress, Hatsune was a surprise success, selling >$120million of software to musicians... to start.

One pop star is a product, but what happens when your pop star is a software platform? Using the voice of Miku, producers created over 100,000 songs. This year, Miku teleports onstage for her 6th year of sold-out global hologram tours and Crypton licenses her for 10 SEGA games.

Holograms are just smoke, an indication. The fire is what happens when transmedia crosses into reality. I think it will turn our world into a sea of dreamed-up stars and stories that feel as real as life itself. And, more like games than movies, you will decide what happens next.

/* Credits to the illusionists at @riotgames @MusionEventsLtd @DigitalDomainDD @avconceptsinc @tfguniverse — if anyone has extra behind-the-scenes stuff, I'd be geeked to see it. */