Horizon Forbidden West: Promoting Aloy's Next Adventure

One of Sony PlayStation’s tentpole console exclusive properties, the Horizon franchise’s protagonist and unique world is instantly recognizable by gaming fans globally.

To promote the February 2022 release of the action role-playing adventure Horizon Forbidden West - sequel to the original Horizon: Zero Dawn which sold more than 20 million copies - Guerilla Games and PlayStation invited four of our most talented video game influencers to produce content with the goal of capturing the attention of casual gamers.

The Campaign

Utilizing their cosplay skills to craft screen quality builds which, combined with top-quality editing, skillfully integrated real-life content with the game’s official trailer.

This unique campaign successfully reached an audience beyond core Horizon fans, generating a remarkable 2.45 million views from 16 content pieces.

• Working from material provided by Guerilla Games and PlayStation, beloved pop culture influencers Bella LeBaron (@halcybella) and Raine Emery (@raineemery) collaborated to recreate the costume worn by Aloy, the protagonist of Horizon Forbidden West. The creators then filmed their scenes against sweeping backdrops in Utah that matched the epic feel of in-game locations.
  Through expert editing, Bella and Raine achieved seamless transitions between the cosplay and game versions of Aloy, creating dramatic, pulse-pounding results.
  

• Fight choreographer, stunt coordinator, and content creator Tony Surphman (@tonysurphman) took inspiration from Horizon Forbidden West, building his own look and custom weapon props. Tony then recreated a sequence from the game trailer that highlighted his incredible choreography skills.
  

• Finally, prop builder extraordinaire @frankly_built took up the challenge to create Aloy’s distinctive bow with the help of a 3D printer, documenting the painstaking process and impressive result for his 1.8 million followers on TikTok.
  
  

The Results

Sony PlayStation and Guerilla Games were thrilled with the creativity our creators provided, amplifying an already high-quality game trailer and bringing the game franchise to a broader pop culture and sci-fi audience.

Ahead of the game’s release, our campaign generated over 2.45 million views across Instagram and TikTok

Additionally, one of our influencers, Bella (@halcybella), is now one of five exclusive influencers in the world consistently invited to take part in the Sony Game Talk campaigns on social media.