This approach led to our creation, Fable III: Kingmaker – a massively multiplayer GPS smartphone game that preceded the launch of Fable III. A hybrid between Foursquare & the classic board game Risk, and based upon a core theme of Fable III – revolution – Kingmaker set two armies to battle across Europe. For the first time ever, players could – by planting virtual flags on their mobiles to claim land for their side – earn gold that they could later spend in Fable III. Linking their actions to social media multiplied their gold thus incentivising people to share news of our game for us.

Fable III went straight to No. 1, selling more Xbox copies than same-day-released, license-backed Star Wars and WWE games combined, up 100% compared to Fable 2’s first week. (Source: Microsoft Game Studios)The app entered the iTunes store at No. 13, and maintained 70% active engagement 2 months later; in perspective, only 5% of apps are used 20 days post download (Source: CNET) Kingmaker delivered +20 million social media impressions, garnering an 85% positive score.Earned media value was over five times total program cost.