Gaming & Media
XBOX
CAMPAIGN CASE STUDY
What do pirates, golden bananas and a global scavenger hunt have in common? We leaped at the opportunity to work on an alternate reality treasure hunt to release XBOX’s new Sea of Thieves game into the world.
THE OPPORTUNITY
Going bananas for an AR game launch
We teamed up with No Mimes Media to launch XBOX’s new multiplayer video game called Sea of Thieves with an alternate reality treasure hunt.
The first group of gamers to solve a series of 15 complex clues and save the stranded pirate Umbra would be awarded €80,000 worth of golden bananas to spend inside the game.
6 coastal cities from around the world were selected to host an alternate reality game clue. Our Victoria-based agency was selected by No Mimes Media to execute the Canadian stop for this global AR treasure hunt.
THE CHALLENGE
Heave ho!
A global AR race
Our first challenge was to find an iconic location in Victoria within view of the ocean that would have high traffic at 9am when the clue was released.
The concept needed to feel distinctly pirate-y and in theme with Sea of Thieves so gamers coming to the location would know who to approach for the clue and have it feel like a part of the story.
We had to be careful to orchestrate everything perfectly on time. With the clue going live at exactly 9am PST, gamers from the Sea of Thieves community all over the world were expecting footage of it to be live and posted within an hour. We had to provide footage for the clue and capture additional footage for XBOX’s case study in a short period of time. We needed to keep the race on schedule and keep things fair for players in person and online.
TESTING LIMITS
X marks the spot
XBOX wanted our game piece to be hidden in a pirate ballad sung by a squeeze box player. No, not an accordion player, but a squeeze box player. No problem. Right?! While that may sound simple, finding a talented squeezebox player is much more difficult than you’d think. We reached out to our networks and found two. Both required “field trips.” We found our perfect squeeze box player, who auditioned in an Irish bar. Next, we needed to source his pirate wear that would fit the pirates in the game.
On game day at 9am, our squeezebox player started busking in Bastion Square with the salty breeze adding to the scene. While playing, Sea of Thieves gamers appeared and interrupted to ask for “The Ballad of a Thousand Grogs”. Gamers were then rewarded with a personal audience to the clue before it was released to the rest of the online community an hour later.
WINNING CUSTOMERS
Part of a larger Sea of Thieves story
18
countries
100+
new stories
300,000
website visits
7,800,000
social media views
THE MORAL OF THE STORY
Cross-channel sailing
When participating in a global game launch incorporating alternate reality elements, it’s all about making everything accessible. Online and offline channels have to be considered and time zones balanced. For the Sea of Thieves launch, this meant that the 9am PST timing was paramount to give people finding the clue in person a slight advantage, while still giving XBOX a quick footage turnaround to include the rest for the global audience.
"One Net played an integral part of The Banana Quest, helping us brainstorm, quickly finding the talent that we needed, and ultimately getting the job done in a crunch! Love these guys!"
– Steve Peters, Experience Designer