Brand activation · Samsung × Gen.G

Quantum Builds

Mystic Mayhem

Three islands for the Galaxy Note20 launch, with the phone’s selling points built as gameplay rather than decoration.

Mystic Mayhem Royale key art

The brief

Samsung Mobile and Gen.G wanted the Galaxy Note20 launch to live inside Fortnite rather than beside it. The phone's Mystic Bronze and Mystic White colourways became the art direction, and the hardware's selling points became gameplay rather than billboards.

What we built

Three islands, one for each color of the phone and one for the crowd. Mystic Bronze held the minigames, Mystic White was an escape room, and the third was a fifty-player battle royale. No billboards anywhere in them: the product's selling points became the things you play.

  • 5G Pipeline a speed run built around the phone's headline feature, staged as a race.
  • AMOLED a room designed around the display, using color and contrast as the mechanic.
  • The race a timed course through the Mystic Bronze palette.
  • Hidden orbs collectibles scattered across the map to reward exploration.
  • Minigame rotation short games running on channels, so the island had repeat value.
  • A white ring-shaped building on a canyon plateau, red rock and desert around it Mystic Mayhem Royale
  • Red canyon rock and sand, a Galaxy Note20 standing upright with its stylus, and a Samsung sign in the dune Mystic Bronze: the minigames
  • A white room with a Samsung logo on the far wall Mystic White: the escape room
  • Overhead map of the battle royale island, named locations across it and orb markers dotted around the edges Mystic Mayhem Royale map

Built with Puzzler, Skttlz, Beario, Percy, FatalFoo and Distortion.

The approach

The approach is the part worth keeping: take the brand’s actual properties, make them mechanics, and give people a reason to come back. A phone launch is a hard version of that, because the product is a slab of glass and the interesting parts are specifications. Turning 5G and a display panel into things you race through and play in is the job.

Island 5351-4586-7481

[To be filled in: how many islands shipped in the campaign, their codes, and any performance figures Samsung or Gen.G published.]