Virtual Music Group Phenomenon To Enliven E-Sports Tournaments

Virtual Idol True Damage Illustration (doc. Riot Games)

JAKARTA - A brilliant marketing strategy carried out by Riot Games in popularizing their flagship Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBA) game - League of Legends (LoL). After successfully introducing virtual idol 'K / DA' last year, they are now presenting a new group called True Damage.

Performing the song 'GIANTS', this virtual idol group consists of original rapper singers, namely K / DA Akali (Soyeon from (G) I-dle), Ekko (Thutmose, Duckwrth), Senna (Keke Palmer), and Qiyana (Becky G) and with music produced by Yasuo. Just like K / DA, True Damage officially appeared at the opening ceremony of the League of World Championship in Paris, on 10 November.

"When it was released ten years ago, neither of us could have imagined that League of Legends would become a cultural phenomenon," said Jessica Nam, lead producer for League of Legends, as quoted by IGN.

"It is clear now that gaming is at the heart of pop culture and we are incredibly proud to partner with such great talent to bring League representation to the world," he continued.

Apart from presenting the virtual idol group True Damage, Riot Games also sells several skins or accessories for each of their game characters. Where the two special skins were designed by Nicolas Ghesquière, Artistic Director of Women's Collections from Louis Vuitton, for two True Damage members, namely Qiyana and Senna.

The music video (MV), which was just released on November 10, 2019, on the League of Legends YouTube channel, immediately penetrated 4.5 million views a day. When juxtaposed with the MV K / DA itself with the song 'POP / STARS' which was released on November 3, 2018, only 279 million views have been watched.

Riot Games often makes a number of MVs to promote the MOBA League of Legends game. The song titled 'Rise' was sung by The Glitch Mob, Mako, and The Word Alive during the 2018 LoL tournament.

Virtual Idol Group

If we go back to the back, the virtual band phenomenon was popularized by Gorrilaz in 1998. The band consists of four members who are depicted in a fictional animation, namely "2-D" Pot, Murdoc Niccals, Noodle, and Russel Hobbs.

On several occasions, they appeared through music videos in CG format or animated fiction. Even in interviews they often appear in cartoon form. The song titled 'Feel Good Inc' from the band's debut album even went triple platinum in the UK and double platinum in Europe and made the group enter the Guinness Book of World Records as the Most Successful Virtual Band.

In Asia, Virtual Idol was made popular by Hatsune Miku. Virtual singer created from Vocaloid sound software. The device developed by Crypton Future Media successfully features a 16 year old female singer with her signature voice.

In every performance, Miku sings with synthesizing technology. Miku's voice is taken from the voice of Saki Fujita (藤田 咲 Fujita Saki), a voice actor from Japan. Hatsune Miku also appears as a holographic projection on several concert stages, just like a real singer.

Miku even had a concert in Indonesia and entertained her fans, on 11-12 October 2018. There, Miku could even interact in Indonesian and sing a number of her famous songs, from Senbonzakura and Venus di Ujung Jari.