Back to Our Work
Activision Blizzard
OOH Launch Campaign
Being tasked with promoting the biggest and best instalment in a legendary action RPG series across Europe doesn’t happen every day. Fortunately Activision Blizzard’s brief was simple: Bring Lilith to life.
But how do you go about summoning a primordial she-demon into the real world? We weren’t about to start dabbling with ancient scripture, but we certainly know a thing or two about murals and that seemed like a good way to announce Lilith’s return.
Our starting point was a quote from the game itself: “I see cities in flames, streets choked with corpses, unthinkable destruction. Hell is coming, brother. Hell is coming.” After all, nothing sparks a creative flame quite like some apocalyptic prose. This inspired us to develop a total of six unique creative ideas for a mural that would be painted across three key European locations.
We knew that these locations would be enormous and that it wouldn’t be practical to carry out site visits to all three. Working closely with the team at Activision Blizzard, it was clear that in order to have the greatest impact we should replicate the original building as closely as possible. Enter a handy combination of Google Maps and Unreal Engine.
Prior to working on Diablo IV, we’d spent a fair bit of time toying with the latest modelling features in Unreal. Getting technical for a moment, we knew that this would enable us to recreate the buildings in question in a 3D environment. This in turn would also enable us to ‘destroy’ them, paving the way for Lillith’s grand entrance.
Utilising a combination of megascans and hand modelled assets, we set about creating authentic-looking damage that would add a sense of realism. We then used the boolean tool, along with some nanite assets to finesse some of the rougher edges.
Tom Price, Diva’s Technical Director “never thought we'd be researching 1920's window frames in response to a brief from Activision but we loved the challenge and think the end result is testament to our efforts to seamlessly merge the two worlds together.”
The way Unreal 5 handles vast polygon counts allowed us to work at an incredibly fast pace. It also enabled us to create masks of each building, which meant we could experiment with what the real-world outputs would ultimately look like. It also ensured that these would be as accurate as possible in terms of size and proportions.
With the help of our partners at Global Street Art, whose hand painting skills and projection mapping expertise helped bring our vision to life, and Rapport’s pioneering OOH work, Lilith descended on London, Berlin and Stockholm in late May 2023. Word spread quickly online, with fans and stunned passers-by flocking to share the news of Lilith’s arrival - and our work too!
Summoning Lilith for Activision Blizzard was a massive undertaking and Lilith’s breakthrough moment speaks for itself. Diablo IV smashed Blizzard’s record to become the “fastest selling Blizzard game of all-time” in just four days. The monumental efforts by all involved in this devilish mural campaign will live on in the memory of all those that enter Sanctuary for generations to come.
