Genshin Impact, the popular action RPG from HoYoverse, was preparing for an exciting collaboration with McDonald’s, featuring limited edition food items and exclusive in-game rewards at U.S. restaurants. To generate publicity, HoYoverse partnered with ÜberStrategist for a one-month PR campaign.
This was the game’s first U.S. fast-food partnership and its biggest collaboration to date. With a short timeframe, we focused on leveraging press relationships with minimal lead time to maximize exposure.
Our strategy focused on pre-pitching, targeted outreach, and leveraging press relationships.
We researched mainstream, culture, and food outlets to expand the game’s reach, then used our gaming contacts to pitch coverage once the embargo lifted. We secured trailer placements on IGN and GameSpot’s YouTube channels (20+ million combined subscribers) and shared the announcement with thousands of gaming and lifestyle contacts for additional coverage.
During the short campaign, ÜberStrategist secured massive results for HoYoverse and the McDonald’s x Genshin Impact Collaboration, including coverage from key mainstream and specialist gaming outlets and influential YouTube channels such as IGN and GameSpot.
This delicious collaboration earned spots among the world’s top Tier 1 outlets multiple times throughout the short campaign run. Notable coverage was achieved in media outlets like Today.com, Parade, Comic Book Resources, PCGamesN, Dexerto, Destructoid, Game Rant, Sports Illustrated, Polygon, The Mary Sue, and GamesRadar+.
“McDonald’s has done numerous collabs with video games — but this one stands out.”