Case Study
Creating Delta Company
During my time as International Community Developer, I created Delta Company, an influencer program for Ubisoft's AAA game, Ghost Recon Breakpoint.
Delta Company
An overview
Delta Company is the first influencer program of its kind for both Ubisoft and the gaming industry, creating a stronger link between gaming studios and their core community. A unique win-win situation, members enjoy behind-the-scenes access to the games they love, while studios benefit from increased community feedback and UGC.
Available across the world, this was the first Ubisoft program to be accessible in 14 languages, allowing non-English speaking candidates to join for the first time. Now boasting 130 members, central and local Ubisoft teams have enjoyed events, workshops, playtests, early capture and more with their members, since Delta Company launched in June 2019.
Getting to Delta
The gaming community is made up of multiple playertypes with very different passion-drivers: artists, cosplayers, explorers, feedback specialists, tournament players; the list goes on.
I wanted to find an efficient way to speak with these different audiences to better engage them.
To achieve this: Delta Company was built around five different clusters to target each of our player and community member-types. Not only did this facilitate recruitment and engagement, but it gave members a clear role and sense of belonging within the program.
The Delta Brand
The brand for Delta Company was a vital part of the project. It needed to not only compliment the game it was being created for, Ghost Recon Breakpoint, but also be strong as a standalone.
To address this, I worked with the same internal design team that worked on the Ghost Recon Breakpoint brand, to produce a keyart and multiple logo variations. All the Delta Company branding was designed by Diana Da Costa.
The Tools
Keeping things organised
Delta Company needed to be visible, easy to understand and easy to manage. I worked with internal IT teams to create a website for the program, including a homepage, FAQ and application form, all localised in 14 languages. A back-end was also developed to enable teams to manage their applications.
You can check out the full website below.
How it Works
A deep-dive explanation
With video being the easiest format to digest, I produced a how it works video to sit on the homepage of the Delta Company website. This was the main asset used for recruitment and marketing objectives when launching the program.
UbiE3 Presentation
Going Live
Go big or go home. This was the mindset when announcing Delta Company to the world. With a spot on the biggest stage in the gaming industry, Delta Company was revealed at UbiE3 2019.
I worked with branding agency, Takeoff, to produce the following E3 stage assets.
Watch UbiE3
The full community segment of the Ghost Recon presentation. I first announce key feedback shared by the community being implemented in the game and then go on to reveal Delta Company for the first time.
Expanding the Delta Universe
Communities love goodies. I worked with internal merchandising teams to produce a goodie box all members received upon joining the program. Additionally, all members received in-game customisations with the Delta branding, for their in-game characters to wear.
Both of these initiatives were exclusive to members of Delta Company and is a reward they truly enjoyed. With a Ghost Recon community of 15 million players, this was quite the exclusivity for the 130 members of the program.
The first shelf of the box
The second shelf of the box
All the items in the box
A cut-scene in the game
A branded car for the game
Character wearing all the items
A Feedback Loop
The Ghost Experience was a Title Update added to Ghost Recon Breakpoint during its post-launch. The objective of this update was to address community feedback, a process in which Delta Company members were heavily involved. They attended a workshop to feedback on the concept of the Ghost Experience, were invited to a playtest to try out the first playable build, and were involved in early-capture along with journalists and influencers.
This journey with Delta Company not only allowed the Studio to have a deeper understanding of core community feedback, but it also took members on a journey that enable them to produce educated UGC.
On my side, I was able to share impactful community content, diving into this process of studio and community working closely together.
Behind-The-Scenes
A video I produced to show how the Ghost Experience was made
I wanted to show how the Ghost Experience was driven by community feedback, giving a behind-the-scenes view into this production process.
Conclusion
The final outcome
Objective
A reminder
Delta Company was created to foster a stronger relationship between the Ghost Recon studio and their core playerbase:
To provide regular community feedback
To support community content creators
To bring together a diverse group of community members
Key Achievements
Community Feedback
Since implementing Delta Company the Ghost Recon studio has had constant access to core community feedback, allowing them to navigate player feedback on a deeper level during the post-launch of the game.
Educated UGC
Content creators within Delta Company were able to speak about the game with a real insider knowledge. This made for educated UGC that reached millions of organic views, amplifying key communication beats for the game.
Brand Love
Delta Company brought people together from all over the world, resulting in 130 members from 12 different countries. A community was built within a community, creating an unbreakable, family-like bond.