Today, Overwatch 2, the popular team-based action game, shared initial results from its latest marketing campaign promoting the upcoming launch of Overwatch 2: Invasion. The campaign includes a collaboration with actor John Cena and leading gaming influencers with a global audience exceeding 200 million. The campaign was planned and managed by Blizzard and Kairos Group – a social-creative media agency.
Overwatch 2 Twitch streams were hacked into by a mysterious hooded entity known as “The Enigma” played by Cena. Broadcasting to viewers from a fortified bunker, delivering codified messages live on-stream, The Engima’s distorted voice warned of an imminent invasion threat from Null Sector, an antagonist group in the game’s new Story Missions which are set to hit Overwatch 2 on August 10th.
Following multiple rumours and fan theories, on Friday, August 4th, during live stream content from 25 leading Twitch creators, international superstar John Cena was revealed as The Enigma. The live broadcasts were watched by over 65,765 Twitch viewers.
Cena, via this video implored audiences to spread the word of Null Sector’s incoming threat and shared a new trailer for Overwatch: Invasion that can be viewed here. “It’s been fun seeing the Overwatch community try to put a face to The Enigma,” said John Cena. “Sometimes a face you can’t see is just what the world needs to sound the alarm of a looming, worldwide threat.”
“Overwatch 2: Invasion is our biggest content drop to date, with all-new ways to play, which we wanted to reflect in our pre-release marketing,” said Kim Centeno, VP of Marketing, Blizzard Entertainment. “While celebrity partnerships are proven to drive interest, we wanted to give the audience an opportunity to be a part of a narrative-driven story rather than just capture attention – fusing celebrity and creator partnerships has proven the perfect platform for this. Pre-release excitement and community sentiment for Overwatch 2: Invasion has surpassed expectations.”
“The Enigma campaign has pushed creator marketing to new levels, both technically and creatively,” said Ross Crump, President, Kairos Group USA. “Our focus from the start was to build a story that involved a diverse pool of content creators as well as their communities, and we could not be happier with the response this work has received. I’m thankful to Kim Centeno, Chelsea Delbridge, and the wider Blizzard team for giving Kairos the opportunity to collaborate on such a memorable campaign.”
Central to the campaign was a series of technical ‘glitches’ that appeared in top Twitch players’ live streams showing a mysterious hooded figure and several coded messages. Deciphering the code revealed the name of the hooded figure “The Enigma” as well as a series of clues as to his identity.
