Deathloop

Arkane Lyon’s DEATHLOOP is an ambitious game — an immersive-sim, first-person shooter wrapped in a murder puzzle. Building on DEATHLOOP’s core influences of James Bond and Quentin Tarantino, we developed a marketing campaign as distinct as the game itself.

Delivered Elements:

Messaging Strategy
Brand Identity
Launch Campaign Creative Strategy & Content Plan
Launch Campaign Trailers
Motion GFX Toolkit
Custom Music

Services:

Analysis
Branding
Campaign Strategy
Voice & Messaging
Concepting
Editorial
Game Capture
Live-Action Production

Illustration
Design
Animation
A/V Post-Production

THE CHALLENGE:

Communicate a complex, time-loop premise without reducing its depth.

STYLE,

SUBSTANCE,

SIXTIES

STYLE & SIXTIES

Drawing inspiration from the symbolism in Saul Bass’ work, we developed animated illustrations used across our campaign assets that simplified the complex storyline of the game in a visually stunning way. The animations guided audiences through the premise and mechanics, while also reinforcing the game’s nostalgic style.

SUBSTANCE

THE FINAL COUNTDOWN

We always want a game’s release to feel like a celebration — and after surviving multiple pandemic delays and still remaining one of the most anticipated games of the year, we wanted to reward our audience’s patience with a gratifying, over-the-top sendoff.

We took all the style-driven tools in our arsenal (custom animation, a custom music cue, etc.), and rolled them all up into a launch trailer with its own, distinct feel. Our capture cranked up the energy and chaos to 11 with dizzying action playing out under a driving, commanding track, all coming together to bowtie our campaign with a bang.

IMPACT AT A GLANCE

Elevated with key partners

Great content and engaging pieces encouraged a priority focus at PlayStation events especially at Sony State of Play

Successfully launched new IP

Barely one year after launch, Deathloop garnered 5 million+ players, a very notable achievement for a new IP in the FPS genre, despite the game initially launching as a PlayStation 5 and PC exclusive, underscoring the success of the marketing strategy

Campaign built & sustained anticipation

Press and players “Most Anticipated” watch-list following key trailer releases
which amassed higher- than-average
engagement and drove over 2 Million
streams of custom music tracks

DISTINCT STYLE STICKS

Despite an elongated, 2+ year campaign due to COVID-19 delays, sentiment for the game remained positive throughout (94% approval ratio overall).

BALANCE CHAOS WITH CONTEXT

Giving action, story, and mechanics equal weight helped define the player experience, while leaving just enough mysteries unsolved to surprise fans.

GIVE GREAT STORIES A VOICE

Our custom, era-influenced tracks carved out DEATHLOOP’s identity in our video assets, and beyond as remixes across TikTok, Spotify, Instagram, and YouTube.