Blizzard Entertainment found a unique way to attract attention
to its apocalyptic “Diablo” action-RPG series during gaming’s big night.
On Dec. 11, Blizzard Entertainment staged a procession of hearses around Los Angeles. The
activation, developed in partnership with creative agency Gut Los Angeles, was timed to The Game Awards, an annual event for the video game industry, which was held at the Peacock Theater in Los
Angeles.
The procession made stops at landmark destinations across Los Angeles before arriving at the theater.
A line of hearses is unsettling enough on its own, but each vehicle
carried an ambiguous message alluding to the need to prepare for an unspecified reckoning, The caravan was designed to be “eerie, theatrical, and unmistakably foreboding,” through details
such as the vehicles’ “slow, ritualistic pacing,” the brand explained in a release about the activation.
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“What better way to announce a reckoning than with a hearse?
Even better, a whole fleet,” Gut Los Angeles CCO Bruno Acanfora said in a statement. “Los Angeles is famous for its sunshine, so we wanted to see what happens when you cast a shadow that
big across it. This activation brings Diablo’s world into ours in the most chilling, cinematic way possible.”
And the stunt was designed to reach a far wider audience than just
those present at the Game Awards. Over the years, the audience for the event has swelled to the point where its global livestreaming audience surpasses that of the Super Bowl. According to
Variety, The Game Awards broke previous viewership records with an estimated 171 million livestreams globally, data which doesn’t even include its audience on Amazon Prime Video.
“Diablo IV” social channels also shared clips from the activation.
The activation is part of a wider campaign to promote the upcoming “Diablo IV: Lord of Hatred,”
slated for an April 28 release. In addition to the stunt, Blizzard timed the release of a cinematic trailer ad for the upcoming game to The
Game Awards event.