Musical artistCG5, best known for his fandom-based content that provides unique takes onindie horror games likeFive Nights at Freddy’sandPoppy Playtime, is working on gamified promotional content for one of his upcoming songs. There are still a lot of unknown details about how someone would engage with this, but it sounds a lot like an ARG with fans engaging with his promotional content instead of it operating like a general ad. Overall, though, it’s something that the musician is excited about.
It’s not to be confused with the standard idea of ARGs, augmented realitygames likePokemon GO, which place the illusion of artificial elements into the real world. Some ARGs use a variety of media simultaneously to tell a story and often utilize actual real-world elements, being interactive in ways similar to a lot of video games. Because of this mixture of media that bridges the gap between fantasy and reality, ARGs can come in a wide variety of forms.
NowCG5is planning to use this unorthodox form of mixed media as a tie-in to a yet-to-be-released song, and it sounds like he’s prepping it for some time in 2025. Currently in the middle of his international Under the Spotlight Tour, the musical artist tells Game Rant,
“It’s going to involve a secret VCR and stuff like that, and it’s going to be a series of videos. We’re looking to put them out next year. We’re going to see what happens with that but I love exploring new opportunities, and I think an ARG would be a cool thing to work on and make my own.”
Upcoming CG5 Song Will Use ARG-Style Promotion
ARGs have been used by games franchises likeCall of Duty,Nier, andSea of Thieves, relying on narrative details that emerge through individual media elements rather than being laid bare in front of the person experiencing them. One of the most famous examples of this type of game isI Love Bees, a glitchy, mind-bending website that, at a casual glance, seemed to provide tips about beekeeping. That ARG was utilized by Bungie to both promote pre-launchHalo 2through a form of viral marketing and tie theHalofranchise into the real world.I Love Beesinvolved a bizarre scheme in which some people inexplicably received jars of honey containing slips of paper that, when put together, spelled out the website’s URL, and a deep dive into the site revealed elements like GPS coordinates that would lead players to find real-world pay phones that would ring and provide more cryptic information.
This will be CG5’s first attempt at making this type of marketing campaign, so it may not be something as elaborate asI Love Bees. After all, the idea is not that this is exactly an ARG, but gamified promotional content for a musical release. How it manifests outside the aforementioned VCR and how fans will be able to interact remains to be seen, as well as how it evolves and grows from there come 2025 and beyond. Still, it’s no doubt an exciting idea for fans of CG5’s music, and on top of that, it fits in perfectly withCG5’s fandom/gaming music.
As for the theme, the ARG content will have a focus on horror in an attempt to draw engagement from among the fanbase, although the song it will be promoting is not specifically related tothe horror genre. As CG5 teased,
“It’s just a story in the real world; a horror story in the real world. Not like an extra thing, but we’re going to see what happens because I’d like to see this sort of thing take off.”
