From conception to production, the YouTube Game On project spanned approximately six weeks of production. After pre-production, Entropico joined the XR Studios team for one day of preparation inside the Hollywood studio, to pre-light scenes and check XR content. Entropico then conducted a single day’s shoot with celebrity players, while Bulldog Digital Media handled livestream facilities and Hovercast handled interactivity.
YouTube metrics revealed the online event clocked up more than 38,000 comments per minute, while viewers voted for gaming creators and Internet personalities that included Bella Poarch, MatPat, Jake Fellman, and Shutter Authority. “Based on the comments and the viewership,” observes J.T. Rooney, “it was well-reviewed. I think what YouTube has seen, and what other Internet sites are seeing over the last couple of years, is that a lot of the younger generation is happy to stay at home and play video games all day, on Twitch and other platforms. It’s a new form of culture, with interactions and mini-stories layered within stories that make the experience compelling. I think it was helpful for viewers during the Game On livestream to see familiar players in action – in Mortal Combat, one of the players playing inside the volcano was Bella Poarch, who is a big TikTok star and Instagram influencer. That added another layer of relatability.
“On the technical side, one of our biggest accomplishments for Game On was the application of the technology. It involved the creation of a variety of scenes that all had to take place during two shooting days in our studio. Being digital, we could push a button and change the environment to another world. Most importantly, it was the right use of the technology. It helped solve a problem, which was how to capture the experience of players within a video game environment and make that entertaining. It was a wide variety of work, but it was the right fit.”