INFiLED’s ART in Action: How CTME Powered Up EWC’s Afterparties
Overview
If you’re a professional gamer with limitless ambition, you would have found yourself in Riyadh for six weeks this summer, battling it out for the biggest prizes across 25 esport titles at the Esports World Cup (EWC). With $70+ million in the prize pool on the line, the EWC delivered high-stakes drama by day and, by night, AFT_r: a series of four afterparty concerts that matched the daytime energy with unforgettable live music.
AFT_r was hosted by MDLBEAST, the music and entertainment company that’s transforming Saudi Arabia’s cultural landscape. It chose Creative Technology (CT) as its technical production partner, responsible for the design, supply and installation of video, lighting and camera ops, to create an unforgettably immersive concert experience for every partygoer.
And with headliners like Black Eyed Peas, Ty Dolla $ign and Metro Boomin, expectations were pretty high.
The Vision: Play Hard. Party Harder
MDLBEAST’s ask was as bold as the event itself. It envisioned big-scale, big-impact center-stage visuals tempered with the kind of IMAG experience that gave partygoers a feel of intimate connectivity with every performer. It demanded supercharged aesthetics, lighting and camera work to create a party high, in line with the biggest gaming event on the planet.
The visuals would be a true team effort, with MDLBEAST’s creative crew working hand-in-hand with the artists. On party nights, the screens would light up with a mix of MDLBEAST-produced content, and custom visuals from each performer. The resulting blend of live camera feeds, motion graphics and artist-specific designs would create a constantly shifting backdrop, aimed to pull the crowd deeper into every set.
The Challenge: Scale Without Strain
Creating an unforgettable afterparty visual experience on this scale came with its own set of challenges. CT required a massive, high-resolution LED setup that could look seamless across the stage while standing up to the demands of a live festival environment. Top of the challenge list were:
- Easy set-up: The LED screens had to be designed for an easy, faff-free build.
- Tight timelines: Quick load-in and setup, critical to keep to the no-room-for-error timeline.
- Structural reliability: The screens had to be tough, stable, and super-safe for heavy-duty use in a high-energy environment, but also lightweight and flexible.
- Flexibility: The design needed to adapt into different stage elements while still working as a cohesive visual platform.
- Performance reliability: The screens had to work perfectly the first time, every time.
The Solution: Lightweight, but with a Ton of Oomph
We were proud that CT chose and deployed a 332 sqm selection of LED screens from INFiLED’s ART 4.6 Series, using its flexible modules to design and build:
- A huge central LED screen measuring 140sqm (3024 × 2160 px) to anchor the stage.
- Two IMAG screens, each measuring 76 sqm ( 2052 × 1728 px) for those vital performer close-ups.
- Eight striking vertical screen columns measuring 5 sqm each (108 × 2160 px), as aesthetic-boosting architectural visual elements.
The setup was powered by Disguise d3 VX4+ servers, and enhanced with a lighting rig of 400+ moving lights from Robe, Ayrton, and Elation, all orchestrated via GrandMA 3 consoles.
CT is masterful at using the ART Series for its touring advantages (which is exactly why we designed it!), and is the only company across the whole of the Middle East currently deploying it.
They chose the ART Series as the screens strike a perfect balance between feather-light portability and solid durability, thanks to the mix of a carbon-fiber spine and die-cast aluminium in the build. Each cabinet is light enough to load in quickly but robust enough to stand strong even at heights of 24m – and to resist the partying antics of the hypest crowd.
As Carlos Aguilar, Head of Video at Creative Technology Middle East mentioned:
“We chose INFiLED’s ART 4.6 for its touring capabilities, easy setup, and structural quality. It’s ideal for large-scale screens like this. Its modularity and reliability allowed us to meet the brief’s requirements for a seamless, high-impact visual experience across the entire stage, while ensuring efficient load-in and setup times critical for festival environments.”
The Result: Not One, but Four Nights To Remember
The setup gave every partygoer the monumental big-clout visuals of a global festival blended with the front-row connection feel of an intimate gig, which was exactly what was intended. CT leveraged INFiLED’s ART Series to build an immersive stage environment that gave each individual performer the freedom to turn their unique creativity into an all-round sensory experience, clearly enjoyed by the EWC audience.
- Outdoor
