- Larian Studios recently conducted an AMA on Divinity, where they also revealed the background story behind the Desert Statue marketing stunt.
- Michael, the head of publishing at Larian, revealed how his team led the entire project, keeping it a secret from the interior team as well.
- The Desert Statue plan eventually turned the paranoia of possible leaks into excitement among the dev team.
The random appearance of a demonic Desert Statue in the middle of the Mojave Desert, which was then tweeted by The Game Awards official handle, shook the entire gaming community. Everyone took to social media, sharing their assumptions on what it meant. Later, it was officially revealed to be placed by Larian Studios to announce the World Premiere of Divinity, their upcoming title. But what made the BG3 devs plan out this incredibly effective marketing strategy? A Divinity developer finally revealed the know-how behind the Divinity Desert Statue in their latest AMA.
Divinity Desert Statue Was a Tactic to Divert Attention from Leaks into Hype
Michael, the Head of Publishing at Larian Studios, recently revealed in an AMA conducted on r/Games about why they decided to go with the monolith. According to him, there was paranoia about the possibility of leaks for Divinity in the dev team before its official announcement. So, they planned to do something that could ‘take the heat away’ from any potential leak about the game’s announcement. They eventually decided to create a monolith, which was the ominous statue we all saw, and decided to place it in Joshua Tree, Mojave Desert.
Long story short, the result was a monolith. I always wanted it in Joshua Tree, because I love Joshua Tree. So we had two lofty ambitions: create a monolith, and dump it in the desert.
Once this decision was made, a change happened in the moods of the internal team at Larian Studios. The previous paranoia turned into excitement. Michael further talks about Roy, from his team, who flew to Joshua Tree during PAX (a gaming event) and spoke with the officials to make it all happen, while others continued to design the monolith.
The elaborate plan from Larian Studios did pay off in the end, as the Desert Statue reveal became the biggest thing everyone was waiting for during the TGA. Paired with the amazing Divinity TGA trailer, gamers were already hooked to the project even though it is years away from release.
So, what do you think about the entire Divinity Desert Statue debacle that happened last year? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
