Esports competitions typically involve gaming fans in spectator mode only. Red Bull wanted to reinvent the way gaming communities could jump into the action by creating a new format of interactive entertainment on Twitch. The main challenge: get fans to engage with their favourite Twitch streamers in a truly immersive and collaborative way.
We created the innovative program Red Bull Settle the Score, an epic four-week battle live-streamed on Twitch between famous game streamers SmallAnt and GrandPooBear. To win the competition, both streamers had to enroll their fans in their team so they could play the campaign like a game thanks to the multifaceted technology and transmedia ecosystem we built.
Red Bull Settle the Score harnessed the power of custom tech and alternate reality game mechanisms to keep fans engaged during AND in between streams. Players first had to join one of the streamers’ teams via a bespoke Twitch extension powered by a LiveOps solution. Passive viewers were converted into active players by earning in-game currencies while watching the streams, answering trivia and completing missions during the face-offs.
Players could earn extra points by watching the 24/7 Live Hub running on Red Bull’s Twitch channel. This hub designed with Unreal Engine maintained excitement throughout the event, sustaining the game even when the streamers were offline. It also displayed a live leaderboard, galvanizing hard core players’ engagement.
To elevate the experience further, we created Cubert - a custom interactive LED cube that sat on the streamer’s desks - expanding gameplay into the physical world. This allowed us to role-play with the community in real-time, steering the adventure in different directions.
Cubert and the extension called out fans to complete IRL missions across the US and online. These elaborate side quests culminated into an alternate reality game, unveiling Cubert’s origin story.
The event generated 3.7 million user interactions with an average of 5.25 hours watched per viewer (32 years of total watch time!), surpassing by 1 000% industry benchmarks. The Twitch extension alone captured 1.2 million interactions. These figures exceeded our already ambitious goals.
