How Capcom launched a game on Reddit

When game developer Capcom was gearing up to launch the latest installment of its popular game Resident Evil Village last year, it met players with a challenge on Reddit. 

Ten days ahead of the launch, Capcom partnered with Reddit’s in-house creative agency KarmaLab to promote posts and videos in threads like r/pcgaming, as well as run category and trending takeovers.  

But to further engage the game’s fanbase, Capcom created an alternate reality game within Reddit to give fans a look inside what was to come in the new release. 

In order to keep fans guessing, each day, Capcom posted 24-hour puzzles on Reddit from an account named the “Village Connoisseur” (u/VillageConnoisseur). The videos slowly revealed a piece of the storyline for the new Resident Evil Village game.

According to Tak Inoue, director and head of brand marketing at Capcom, the puzzle was intentionally designed to be difficult, requiring members to actively share their clues and theories to reach the answer. 

The goal of the campaign was to “inspire fans to gather and collaborate to solve,” Inoue said. 

“We knew the members of Reddit are content savvy, so one of our biggest challenges was to make sure the campaign resonated with and was authentic for the community,” he added. 

According to Inoue, the campaign was inspired by the desire to create community with fans amid the lack of physical events during the pandemic. Reddit presented an opportunity to engage the gaming community in a way that “was thematically true to the Resident Evil Village narrative.”

When the campaign launched, Inoue said community response was overwhelming; the first puzzle was solved in just an hour. The campaign also generated a 99% Reddit upvote, Reddit’s equivalent to “likes,” compared to an 80% benchmark. 

According to Inoue, 92% of people found the ARG to be “fun and engaging,” compared to the 50% Reddit creative execution. Purchase intent also increased by 11% among those who played the game.