Apex Legends: Live from Mirage’s Holo-Day Bash at The Game Awards

Client: Respawn Entertainment

Agency: The Mill

Respawn and The Mill set out to attempt something unprecedented. To bring the beloved Apex Legends character, Mirage, to life in an unimaginable way: on stage, live and ‘in person’ at The Game Awards.

Co-directed by David Lawson, Lisha Tan and Creative Director Drew Stauffer, this never-before-seen blend between the virtual world and the real world all happened in real-time. This allowed a virtual Mirage to interact with The Game Awards’ host, Geoff Keighley.The Mill’s Creative Technology team developed a real-time rendered shooting technique through partnership with Cubic Motion and Animatrik. Using Unreal game engine to effectively direct the CG Mirage character, adjusting the character actions, the lighting, and even environmental textures, live. This one-to-one relationship completely blurred the line between what is real and what is virtual.

This ground-breaking, immersive experience, delighted fans of Apex Legends, launching a new era in live entertainment. This monumental undertaking peaked with a total of 49.3 million full streams. On Twitch, The Game Awards delivered 1.3 million peak viewers making it one the largest livestreams of the year.