GameStop Italia streams Twitch Gaming Show with Blackmagic Design

The Italian arm of GameStop, a global retailer of video games and consumer electronics, relies on a live production workflow featuring the Studio Camera 4K Pro (Blackmagic 设计) to produce original online content for its fans.

GameStop Italia commissioned Videogames Party, a live entertainment content specialist, to craft 52 streaming episodes that provide a lively variety of content including discussions, unboxings, live gaming sessions, and interviews with special guests for the brand’s 20,000 Twitch followers.

The weekly episodes are streamed live from an 80 square meter set built at Videogames Party’s facility in the heart of Milan. “Streaming is shaping a new generation of gamers, and brands like GameStop understand that content for this audience has to be of the highest quality to cut through on platforms like Twitch,” begins Nicola Pisano, one of the founders of Videogames Party.

“When designing the workflow, we knew Blackmagic Design would deliver the versatility required to produce a wide range of enticing, entertaining and superior quality content in 4K on a tight schedule, which keeps our client’s growing gaming community well entertained,” he continues.

Videogames Party’s production studio features an SDI based workflow composed of four Blackmagic Studio Camera 4K Pros paired with Micro Four Third lenses.

One camera position is mounted on stabilizers in front of the lounge area, where gaming experts chat about the latest industry trends. Each episode unveils a special guest from the industry, often presenting a new game or hardware launch to add a dash of suspense.

Another two cameras capture unboxing and live gaming sessions, whilst the fourth camera is crane mounted to offer a detailed panoramic angle.

“I chose the Studio Cameras 4K Pros for their ability to deliver to the video streaming content a pleasant aesthetic, similar to those of movies,” confirms Pisano. “The SDI connectivity allows for a very practical, built in talkback, which allows the director to orchestrate the different live production shots of each episode flawlessly, without moving from his station, while the camera operators can control the live feeds.”

ATEM Television Studio Pro 4K

Each episode is vision mixed on an ATEM Television Studio Pro 4K live production switcher with the program then taken out to Twitch through VMix, where graphics are added.

“With brands keen to stay on top of their game during this momentous boom in the streaming industry, Blackmagic Design equipment is the ace up our sleeve,” says Pisano. “Being gamers ourselves, it has been pleasant to focus on the exciting production of fresh and engaging content for GameStop Italia’s live audience to watch.”

“Our facility’s workflow is powerful yet simple to set up and intuitive to operate. Gaming content production can be complex with studio content, live computer gameplay, graphics and titles,” concludes Pisano. “The ATEM not only has enough inputs to support a multilayered production but also provides automatic standards conversion, so we are ready to go live in moments.”