Allied Esports Partners with Xsens to Bring Live Animated Casters to Counter-Strike Event

Allied Esports has partnered with Xsens, a global leader in inertial motion capture products, to bring live animated casters to a professional esports tournament production for the first time.

Through the use of Xsens’ MVN motion capture systems, Allied Esports will transform its tournament casters into animated characters. The exclusively designed live motion avatars will provide fans with a fun and engaging viewing experience specific to the game being played, and create unique, innovative opportunities for brand and product integration.

“As gaming and esports viewership continues to grow, we need to push the boundaries of competitive content to provide new and engaging viewing experiences for our audiences and partners. We’re thrilled to make history again with the Legend Series and use Xsens’ innovative motion capture animation technology to create a first-of-its-kind broadcast experience in esports,” Jud Hannigan, CEO of Allied Esports, said.

“Allied Esports is taking live esports broadcasting to the next level by adding live animated casters to the tournaments. This is very challenging, and in such a demanding technical environment, Xsens is the only solution to give a reliable performance,” Rob Löring, Business Director at Xsens, said.

The three-day, €5000, winner-take-all CS:GO Legend Series tournament, featuring teams Apeks, Club Brugge, Nexus and NLG, will be produced out of Allied Esports’ AE Studios in Hamburg, Germany from April 10-12 and be live-streamed on Allied Esports’ North American and European Twitch channels. Inside the motion capture suits will be casters Robert Jan Kortooms (@RJcasts) and Thiadrik Oldersma (@Toldersma), who will inject their personalities and CS:GO expertise into the animated characters and tournament broadcast.