Activision has built a full-size replica of a Korean back alley from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 on Shoreditch High Street, in a site that was a car park two weeks before it opened, ahead of the game’s release on 23 October.
The set, at Electric Garden, 201-207 Shoreditch High Street, copies the alley from the game’s opening level, The Drum reported on 15 October. It was built by Activision with Omnicom Media, which also bought the billboards that usually ring the site. A twin alley has been built on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles.
“The team has built a city in a billboard,” Tyler Bahl, Activision’s chief marketing officer, told The Drum. “Essentially, the same alleyway that you see here is in the game.”
Entry is free. The full interactive programme ran from 15 to 18 October, according to The Drum and London Now, and The Drum said the alley itself would stay open until the launch.
What is inside
Visitors walk past a convenience store modelled on a real shop in Seoul, a corn dog stall, a laundromat, a spice stall, a spa, a comic shop and a K-pop bar, The Drum said. London Now described neon storefronts and the plastic stools of Seoul’s late-night dining streets. Controllers let visitors play the game before release.
The game is set in South Korea during an attack from the North, and its city, Hajin, is fictional. Each evening the alley stages the moment in the game when North Korea sets off an electromagnetic pulse. The lights cut out and the crew fire off sparks, flames, smoke and the sound of helicopters. Only London has real fire, because permitting rules mean it cannot be done in the US, The Drum reported.
“There are Easter eggs hidden throughout the experience,” Bahl said. “Most people wouldn’t know, but the fans that come in will really care.”
Twitch cameras and Amazon lockers
Amazon Ads’ Brand Innovation Lab, including the Twitch Brand Partnership Studio, worked on the interactive parts. Some bags of Korean sweets handed out at the store hold a mission card. Players who crack its code get a six-digit number that opens an Amazon locker holding a prize, from merchandise to in-game codes.
After the public leaves at night, Twitch viewers take control of CCTV cameras around the alley to hunt for hidden intel. Streamers from the UK, Germany and France then visit to finish the mission their viewers unlocked.
“By combining immersive real-world experiences with Twitch-powered interactivity and a full-funnel media strategy, we’ve created something that puts fans at the center of the story,” said Kate McCagg, global head of the Amazon Ads Brand Innovation Lab.
Call of Duty has sold 500m games, The Drum reported. Bahl told London Now the new game “gave us the opportunity to create something ambitious in two of the world’s cultural capitals”.
Electric Garden faces Boxpark and sits a short walk from Shoreditch High Street Overground station. Made in Shoreditch has a guide to things to do in Shoreditch and a guide to its nightlife.