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 a 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 live streams of the year.