Black Ops 7 is set in the near future of 2035. But, to establish an antagonist that would resonate with our fans at an authentic level, we pulled directly from current cultural tensions and real-world fears. Namely, the mistrust and failed promises of Big Tech and the anxiety over AI. Enter: The Guild, the hot new military tech company, and main antagonist, from the game. We introduced The Guild, as a real, “trustworthy” tech company. Darkly mirroring and satirizing the Big Tech Playbook. And blurring the line between fiction and reality. The mysterious new tech company announced themselves with a manifesto video that played on all of our collective fears. Created with content and imagery pulled directly from the headlines and our deepest anxieties. The rollout continued with an integrated company website, partnerships, and a brand new IG social account. We launched The Guild out into the world, leveraging culture’s fears on AI, the lies of big-tech, and more, to establish our mission. The Guild used all the tools a real tech startup would use. And the immersion continued around every corner. On theguild.io, users could dive into the company’s history, and get first looks at in-game elements, positioned as “consumer products.” On social, we continued to bring The Guild into our reality, building a dedicated social media presence from scratch, and building buzz and chatter by partnering with publications like Forbes, Wired, and Pubity to create thought-provoking articles. But it didn’t stop there. We worked with podcasters, Tech, and Financial Influencers to post reactions with their own content, telling an escalating story that fueled growing buzz around humanity’s only hope — The Guild. The campaign concluded with a bang, driving eyes to Manhattan to see The Guild CTO step out from behind the screen and into our world physically, flanked by menacing and deadly robots, in a crazy, public IPO stunt that got all eyes on Black Ops 7. In the end, the public began to question and argue over what was real, and like AI, we blurred the line between reality and fiction, and made the future something to fear.