Spark Game Arena Live: The Gaming Festival That Was A Giant Co-op Game Itself

Monday, 16 September 2024, 2:17 am
Press Release: Spark NZ

Thousands of gamers gathered at Auckland’s Spark Arena in New Zealand over the weekend to experience a first-of-its-kind gaming festival called Spark Game Arena Live.

The festival, delivered by New Zealand’s largest telecommunications and digital services provider, Spark New Zealand, redefined what a gaming festival can be with the addition of Killabyte – a fully immersive gaming experience that turned every attendee into a player in a big virtual snake hunt.

Attendees also watched the biggest live esports final to take place at Spark Arena where Rangitoto College student Henry Dowson was crowned the winner of ‘The Rise Cup featuring Fortnite’ – a nationwide tournament culminating in the top 50 finalists battling it out for a share of the prize pool worth over $240,000. Dowson took home $35,000 cash alongside over $3,000 worth of gaming equipment. But it wasn’t just the esports finalists who took home prizes.

Upon arrival, gamers at the event found themselves part of a secret organisation called D.A.R.T. (Data Anomaly Response Team), tasked with taking down one of the biggest bosses the gaming world has ever seen, Byte. Byte is a giant digital snake that had attempted to take down the festival on a mission to drag gaming back to the brick phone era of black and white pixel games.

Players dealt damage to Byte with everything they did at the gaming festival, by spectating tournaments, listening to industry expert talks, playing games, and even eating food. Touchpoints at every spectacle allowed each player to scan a unique RFID bracelet, which dealt damage to Byte and earned players experience points (XP). Players could track their progress via a ‘Mission Hub’ on mobile, and participate in a side quest that included collecting hidden Byte scales around the festival, unlocking Killabyte lore and prizes along the way.

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Spark Marketing and Data Director Matt Bain says, “This type of experience isn’t just a first-of-its-kind for gaming, it’s New Zealand setting the benchmark for gaming festivals.

“Killabyte has been transformative for Spark Game Arena Live, elevating it out of a gaming expo to make the festival itself an innovative and exciting genre of gaming that gives players a new way to participate and compete against one another.”

Festival goers had the chance to meet two of Australasia’s biggest gamers, Vincent Ton, known by his online name Vindooly, and Taylor Morgan. Vindooly was named Australia’s fastest-growing YouTube creator in 2023, amassing 1.6 billion views and has now reached over 4 million subscribers on YouTube.

Vindooly says Spark Game Arena Live made his first trip to New Zealand an unforgettable one.

“Spark Game Arena Live was incredible and an experience I’ll never forget.

“The stadium, setup and production was like nothing I’ve seen before. It was truly amazing to see players chasing their dreams and showcasing their talent, and the event brought a level of excitement and community that really made everyone feel like a winner,” he says.

To create the Byte character, Spark partnered with BUCK, a global multi award-winning animation company.

“When Spark approached us with the idea of turning a gaming festival into a game, it presented an exciting opportunity for us,” says Gareth O’Brien, BUCK Executive Creative Director.

“Not only was designing a highly-crafted and engaging Boss character at this scale something we’d never seen done before, but figuring out how to sustain a storyline over the course of the day was a challenge we were keen to tackle.

“The resulting Byte character is a devious digital snake, whose lore throws back to old-school gaming, while living up to the contemporary, ever-developing visual world that a discerning gaming audience expects.”

As well as BUCK, the Killabyte game was developed in collaboration with Colenso BBDO, Spur and Satellite Media.

Killabyte saw thousands of players compete for prizes throughout the day until Byte’s defeat crowned players JOYNZ, and Bravemage4676, for their respective overall high scores for the morning and afternoon sessions, winning a pool of gaming gear worth $1750 each.

The Red Bull Home Ground National Valorant Final also saw the best teams across Aotearoa and Australia go head-to-head to become the New Zealand champion. With both teams tied, team ‘Sumthin Dumplin’ kept their cool and took out the final game and the championship, earning themselves a place in the Asia-Pacific qualifiers, in Tokyo Japan this October. Here, they will represent New Zealand with the chance to head to the Red Bull Home Ground World Final in Germany this November.

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