This longstanding client, Ubisoft, has asked us to design for a lot of different projects over the years. But their request to help them launch a game at E3 in Los Angeles in June 2013 was almost as secretive as the the game itself. Little did we know at the time they’d asked us design for The Division.
Client | Ubisoft |
|---|---|
Services | Graphic Design, Video Production |
Website | Click to visit |
To help Ubisoft launch this new video game title at E3, we were briefed on the new brand’s purpose, its modern-day setting, location and the fact that the storyline revolved around a weaponised virus being released in the boroughs of New York causing Directive 51 to be implemented. But that was it. We do love a challenge though!
Event marketing for video games can be very creative indeed as we’re often selling an idea or a story. So, for research we looked into how governments deal with pandemics, their strategies and communication methods. Plus, how viruses can spread in densely populated urban areas and the effect on the infected population.
The natural result of this research was to create a ‘US-Government’ bio-hazard warning leaflet, which would be given away free to fans at the show and help start to immerse them in the world of what would come to be revealed as The Division. Plus, another free giveaway, a poster showing a map of Brooklyn’s transport network subtly hinting at a viral path through a host body.
This launch was so successful that Ubisoft asked us to collaborate again two years later at another E3 event. So, in 2015, we created a series of animated videos that were displayed on screens around their event booth, showing visitors how to play the demo of The Division that they were waiting patiently in line for. These too proved successful and Ubisoft’s internal development team went on to implement them, now using the in game graphics, for the open Beta test in February 2016, a few weeks before the game’s launch.
We’ve helped Ubisoft with many of their most successful brands including Rainbow Six, Far Cry, Ghost Recon, Splinter Cell and, of course, The Division.