Adventure Time x Immortals Fenyx Rising

Brief

Promote Ubisoft’s Adventure Time-themed expansion of Immortals Fenyx Rising with a new epic adventure.

Challenge

Merge the high adventure of the video game with the silly-seriousness of Cartoon Network’s hit show to create a thrilling new tale.

Result

The spot earned three Telly awards and helped the new game’s launch win 108 million purchases.

When Immortals Fenyx Rising expanded with new Adventure Time customizations, gamemaker Ubisoft looked to Primal Screen to animate the trailer. We were thrilled to work on such a cool project, especially since Cartoon Network had recommended us to Ubisoft. But there were some challenges, like the game itself was still in its testing phase.

Introduction

As Ubisoft continued to develop details of the new game, they deputized us to reimagine Immortals Fenyx Rising in the style of Adventure Time, with a unique story, independent of the game. Armed with final, 3D background art as well as game characters like Fenyx and Cerberus (the mythological three-headed devil dog), we built a 2D cartoon world familiar to Adventure Time fans.

Game On

Story Time

Both properties boast high-stakes action and absurd humor, but finding a balance that felt faithful to each was challenging. The story we created teamed up Adventure Time’s Finn and Jake with the heroic but peevish Fenyx from the game. Throughout each stage of production we submitted scripts and art to teams at Cartoon Network and Ubisoft. Pro tip: using the Adventure Time in-house format for style sheets helped the new characters look like they were already part of that world.

Throughout most of production we used scratch voice work. Toward the end we were able to record the actual character voices (along with Cerberus, whom we voiced in-house). Since our spot was part of a wide, international marketing campaign, we also had to translate, cast and produce the video in 13 other languages. Final sound was done at Primal Screen, and benefitted from the game’s original, epic score.

At launch, the game sold 108 million copies and garnered high marks on Metacritic. The spot itself won three Telly Awards including a Gold for 2-D animation. Best of all, both Ubisoft and Cartoon Network loved the way we combined the worlds without losing sight of the humor and heroics of the source material.