Xbox and McCann London have installed a series of Christmas lights that form the first-ever game trailer you can walk through. The lights – hanging above the shopping plaza in London’s Brunswick Centre – don’t feature traditional festive imagery. Instead they tell a story about hordes of flesh-eating zombies to promote the new Christmas-themed zombie game Dead Rising 4 – developed by Capcom and published in partnership with Microsoft which launches on Xbox One and Windows 10 PC.

Last night, the online fan-base worked together to switch on the lights. By interacting with a cryptic Facebook Live stream of a zombie hand suspended above a button, Xbox followers moved the hand downward to press the switch and turn on the display, revealing the trailer to the world.

The Dead Rising Lights consist of nine panels of lights, suspended consecutively above a busy shopping plaza. The lights switch on and off in sequence to reveal a brand new narrative to gamers. As with all Xbox game trailers, it begins with the PEGI age rating logo and concludes with the iconic green Xbox end-frame.

The direct-response switch-on mechanism was part of a fully-integrated campaign revolving around the light installation, comprising:
• Live streaming on Facebook Live, Twitch and Periscope
• A festive event to mark the turning-on of the trailer
• Geo-fenced Snapchat filters
• An immersive, interactive 360° video so that those unable to visit the London installation can remotely experience it