Uncharted 4: A Thiefs' End breaks Twitter with TV

The Big Idea

We wanted to do something that we had never been done before, and get gamers and non-gamers alike engaging with the game and set Twitter alight over the launch of Uncharted 4. We proposed creating our first ever live Twitter competition, where Channel 4 viewers would be able to play along and win with #Uncharted4live, all in the space of 15 minutes. On the night, the competition ad break opened with Channel 4’s first animated 10” branded intro with Channel 4’s iconic new blocks. There followed 180” of exclusive gameplay, created by the game’s developers Naught Dog in America, that featured a dramatic motorcycle chase featuring the games key characters Nathan and his brother Sam. We would then ask a question about this content and deliberately keep the window for entries very small to drive immediate action from our viewers. Our intention was then to announce the winner, live on air, at the beginning of the third centre break of Gogglebox, 15 minutes later!

Making it Happen

Once the concept was signed off, we had just over three weeks to take the idea from the drawing board into reality. The key to making this partnership happen was to balance the inherent risks that exist with a live event, with the essential demands of compliance which surround any channel branded competition. Making the two sit harmoniously together was one hell of a job! Whilst 4Creative where briefed on the 10” branded intro and Naughty Dog on the exclusive gameplay content, we sat down with our Operations team and The Outfit to try and anticipate every scenario that could happen on the night. Everything from a complete transmission failure to an offensive winning Twitter handle (of which there are many out there!) was discussed. We had to be prepared for every possible eventuality on the night and be able to react quickly and decisively as events unfolded. During testing we quickly realised why a comprehensive scenario matrix was essential, as the first two ‘winners’ drawn during the dress rehearsals were @hormonalporno and @pisspoorpoet!

On the night, all the preparation really did pay off. We quickly realised that the sheer volume of entries would mean we would not be able to announce the winner within the 15 minutes between the end of the competition and the 3rd ad break. Crucially, however unlikely this looked to be, we had planned for this eventuality. Our Live Continuity announcer was passed a script which congratulated C4 viewers for breaking the internet with the volume of entries and that we would announce the winners shortly on our C4 winners’ website, which we managed to do 10 minutes later than planned. Channel 4 viewers loved the idea that they had ‘broken the internet’ and this only added to the Twitter chat around the campaign.

The Results

Our intention to set the world of Twitter alight was achieved! The competition was only open for 5 minutes and yet we received over 25,000 entries, with 8,000 in the first 60 seconds. Over the evening we had over 37,000 tweets talking about #Uncharted4live. It trended no.1 in the UK (knocking #londonelects off the top spot, which given it was the London mayoral elections that day was no mean feat).

The C4 partnership also generated the highest number of online searches of the entire campaign. In terms of sales, Uncharted 4 exceeded the ambitious sales forecasts Sony Computer Entertainments had for the game, with global sales hitting 2.7m in the first week, making Uncharted 4 PS4’s the fastest selling first party title ever.