HCS Global Invitational

Results

By every valued metric, the event was a resounding success and the home field advantage even shepherded the SSG pro team to their first ever tournament victory.

Our social mentions were overwhelmingly positive with the many fans calling it the best event not just in the 3 year history of the league, but in the 20 year history of Halo esports.

We created an experience that the fans will never forget, but beyond that, we loudly declared to the community that SSG was an organization focused first and foremost on fan experience and established SSG as a major presence in Halo esports.

Experiential

Environmental

Merchandise

Activations

Salt Lake City

2023

A live esports competition and fan engagement experience, cosponsored by Microsoft, Halo Studios, and Spacestation Gaming.

Key Points

4000+ Attendees

1,000,000+ Unique Viewers

1,300,000+ Hours Watched

6,000,000+ Impressions

$40,000 in merch sales

Summary

Spacestation Gaming (SSG) was finally catching traction, both with the fans and competitively. The Global Invitational was their opportunity to exhibit their scrappy, fans-first ethos on the world stage. Typically rather understated affairs aside from the excitement on-stage, SSG wanted their event to set itself apart from the competition by creating immersive environments, fan experiences, and most of all, memories for those in attendance and at home.

Challenge

The standard fare for these events was a cavernous convention halls with a handful of merch stands and one main stage area. For SSG's first time in the spotlight, we needed to rewrite the script. Rather than cavernous and bare convention halls, we wanted intimate spaces dripping with style and color. We wanted to keep fans entertained throughout the weekend rather than just when their favorite team was on stage.

Beyond that, our budget had to be carved out of what was designed to cover only the strictest essentials. This ruled out most conventional methods of dressing up the two spaces that comprised our venues.

Solutions

Rather than opting for the traditional convention space, we opted for two separate venues in the same complex. One, a gutted retail space and the other, a historic concert hall, both in the heart of downtown Salt Lake City. These spaces gave the fans a more intimate, connected environment from the jump. They also allowed us to be a little more creative in our environmental design and layout.

The small amount of large format printing we could afford, we used strategically. Printed vinyl banners doubled as blackout curtains, helping us establish a dark and grungy vibe for the space. Our large format foam core prints were used for accent pieces, photo ops, and standees to make the space feel dense with content and visuals. Finally, our most inexpensive but versatile tool, single color laser printed posters on neon stock. For a few hundred dollars, we created tens of thousands of square feet of environmental dressing that firmly established a cohesive vibe for the entire event space (and memorablesouvenirs for the more... industrious... of our attendees).