The establishment of the Capital Gymnasium was like erecting a magnificent monument for the upcoming National City Hero Championship, attracting the attention of society as a whole. The halo surrounding the venue itself had already garnered immense publicity for the event, transcending the gaming community.
However, in Qin Feng's view, this was merely setting up a splendid stage. To truly make this grand spectacle resonate with people and spread across the nation, two crucial core elements were still needed: professional event commentators and an independently controlled live broadcast team.
When he proposed at the core meeting to extensively recruit and train game commentators and establish the company's own broadcast technology team, it was, as expected, met with internal incomprehension once again, especially from Xiao Zhang, who was in charge of budgeting and business operations.
"Mr. Qin," Xiao Zhang pushed up his glasses, his face filled with the worries of a pragmatist, "I understand the commentary team; excellent commentary can indeed enhance the viewing experience. But establishing our own live broadcast team... isn't that too big an investment? There are already several mature live streaming platforms on the market. We could completely package and sell the broadcasting rights to them, which would not only save us huge costs in equipment procurement, personnel salaries, and technology research and development but also bring in a considerable amount of copyright revenue. Building our own team means starting from scratch, facing technical risks, and it's a capital-intensive, high-consumption department with no clear profit model in the short term."
His concerns were reasonable. At this time, most game event broadcasts relied on third-party platforms. Game companies themselves focused on content creation, and outsourcing distribution channels was the industry norm. Building an in-house live broadcast team was seen by many as inviting trouble and not worth the effort.
The eyes of everyone else in the meeting room also focused on Qin Feng, awaiting his decision.
Qin Feng did not directly refute but instead posed a question: "Everyone, what is the ultimate goal of our National City Hero Championship? Is it merely to determine a champion and hand out a million-dollar prize?"
He looked around at everyone and answered his own question: "No! What we want to do is create an era, to establish the unshakable core position of the 'league of legends' esports brand! If we easily outsource broadcasting rights, it will indeed save trouble and make money, but it also means entrusting the 'voice' and 'image' of the event to others."
He walked to the whiteboard and drew two key boxes.
"First, the commentary team—the'soul interpreters' of the event," Qin Feng wrote the two characters "Commentary" heavily in the first box.
"Commentary is not just recounting what's on the screen: 'killed,' 'died,' 'tower pushed.' No, that's far from enough!" His tone carried an extreme pursuit of professionalism, "What we need are professional commentators and live hosts who can deeply understand game tactics, discern player psychology, clearly articulate team fight logic, and stir the emotions of the audience."
"They need to be able to explain why this team fight broke out here? Why did this hero choose to join the fight at this specific time? What decisions are hidden behind the subtle operations of this player? They must accurately convey the wisdom, passion, and regret contained in the competition to the millions of viewers in front of their screens, allowing those who don't understand to get started, and those who do understand to have an elevated experience!"
"This requires us to invest resources to recruit, train, and establish a system for commentator selection, cultivation, and promotion. We want to make 'league of legends Official Commentator' a golden brand, an indispensable part of the event!"
Qin Feng's words gave a new definition and height to the role of "commentator," resonating deeply with Wu Tong and Chen Ran, who were responsible for content planning. Yes, event broadcasting is not just about watching the screen; it's also about listening to stories, professional analysis, and emotional resonance.
"Second, our own live broadcast team—the 'masters of the event's destiny,'" Qin Feng pointed to the second box, his tone even more solemn.
"If we hand over broadcasting to a third-party platform, we will be at their mercy. The stability of signal transmission, clarity of picture quality, broadcast delay, the content and frequency of commercials, and even whether technical glitches will occur at critical moments... all these core aspects that affect the viewing experience will be beyond our complete control."
"Imagine, during the peak showdown of the grand finals, with millions of viewers online, if the signal suddenly stutters, the picture quality plummets, or inappropriate advertisements are forcibly inserted by the platform, this would be a devastating blow to our event's brand!"
"More importantly," Qin Feng's gaze was sharp, "what we want to create is an exclusive audio-visual language for 'league of legends'! From the switching of OB (observer) camera angles, to player close-ups, slow-motion team fights, the presentation of data panels, and even the artistic packaging of the entire broadcast stream, intros and outros, and interlude segment designs... all of these must align with the temperament of our game and the esports aesthetic we want to convey. This can only be achieved to the extreme by our own team!"
He concluded with a resounding statement: "Therefore, building our own live broadcast team, while seemingly an investment in the short term, is a strategic investment in the long term! We must maintain absolute dominance over event content distribution, ensuring that every link, from the signal source to the user's screen, bears the 'league of legends' imprint and guarantees the highest quality! This money must be spent!"
Qin Feng's foresight and courage once again convinced the team. Although Xiao Zhang still felt the sting of the budget, he understood that this concerned the foundation of the event and its future development potential, and no longer insisted on opposing it.
With the resolution passed, Riot Games immediately began operating at high speed.
The commentator recruitment and training program, "Voice of the Rift," was launched first. The official announcement for recruitment was grand, not only targeting experienced broadcasting professionals but also opening its doors to high-ranked players and community opinion leaders. The recruitment criteria were extremely stringent: requiring a deep understanding of the game (diamond rank or above), clear logical thinking and quick language organization skills, as well as good camera presence and emotional appeal.
Applicants poured in like a flood. After multiple rounds of rigorous selection, including initial screening, written tests (game understanding assessment), and interviews (impromptu commentary evaluation), a group of promising candidates emerged. Qin Feng personally participated in the final interviews, often asking tricky and profound questions: "Please analyze the impact of the current bot lane meta on the mid-jungle rhythm?" or "If a game is extremely dull in the early to mid-game, how would you engage the audience's emotions?"
The selected provisional commentators then entered a "devil's training camp." Core members like Qin Feng and Wu Tong personally taught them about the underlying design logic of the game, the history of version changes, and classic tactical systems; professional broadcasting teachers were hired to correct pronunciation and train speech flow; high-intensity simulated commentary exercises were conducted, along with strict post-mortem critiques. The goal was to create an ace commentary team that understood both the game and how to express it.
Concurrently, the establishment of the in-house live broadcast team was also in full swing. Li Ming's technical department led the recruitment of a large number of directors, cameramen, video technicians, and audio engineers with experience in large-scale event broadcasting. They procured the most advanced broadcast vehicles, high-definition cameras, and audio control equipment. A simulated studio and control room were set up within the company, where full-process stress tests were conducted repeatedly, from OB camera tracking, multi-signal switching, real-time data integration, to network streaming stability. Every detail was meticulously refined.
While other game developers were still haggling over finding suitable live streaming platform partners, Riot Games had quietly built an elite broadcast force, entirely dedicated to its own events, with a technical level comparable to professional television stations.
The official timely released some behind-the-scenes footage of commentator training and live broadcast team tests, once again sparking heated discussions among players.
"The official is really going all out! Commentators even need to be diamond rank?"
"These broadcast facilities look so professional!"
"I feel like the viewing experience for this tournament is going to be amazing!"
All preparations served the same goal: to make the first National City Hero Championship an impeccable esports extravaganza, from the offline venue to the online viewing experience, and from the competitive content to the audio-visual presentation. Qin Feng knew that only an ultimate experience could forge an enduring classic.