PetLondon was tasked to find a Shiba Inu for an exclusive media launch of Ubisoft’s Far Cry: New Dawn video game; where selected guests were allowed to play and capture footage for the upcoming release on 15th February 2019. Taking place in London, this event was filled with streamers as well as many senior directors and developers from Ubisoft. This included colleagues from Ubisoft Montreal, the lead developer, and supporting studios: Ubisoft Bucharest, Ubisoft Kiev and Ubisoft Shanghai.

PetLondon has a rich pedigree working with AAA publishers. We have been involved with video game launches and events with Activision for the launch of Call of Duty: Ghosts and more recently Electronic Arts for the release of Sims 4: Cats and Dogs. Working with these developers, PetLondon has sought to bring these launch events and parties to life where hundreds working together for this cinematic experiences.

Far Cry: New Dawn is an action-adventure open world first person shooter developed by Ubisoft. Far Cry New Dawn is a standalone sequel to the events of Far Cry 5 that took place in the fictional Hope County, Montana with varied terrain and geographical landscapes.

Similar to previous expansions from the Far Cry Series, such as Far Cry: Blood Dragon and Far Cry: Primal the game reuses the map of the previous game with a new twist in proceedings, reflecting the lower price tag at launch.

Far Cry: New Dawn is set 15 years after the end of Far Cry 5 after the nuclear explosion triggered at the end of the epic campaign. In the post apocalyptic world survivors try to rebuild a community; however, this is hampered by the efforts of main antagonists (pictured above), twin sisters, Mickey and Lou.

The distinctive pink overtones to the game were done with deliberation. The game’s bright colour palettes is due to a ‘super-bloom’ of flora where nature reclaims the landscape with a plethora of colours. The team thought this would counteract the deliberate troupe of dark and dingy post-apocalyptic settings seen in other games.

After much deliberation, Raion was chosen for the event, where he was tasked with Meeting and Greeting the selected guests, taking selfies with them and aiding their adventures across Hope County.

The reason for a Shiba Inu starring at the event is that in Far Cry: New Dawn has a dog called Timber which is available in-game as a ‘Fang for Hire’. Timber is one of many characters that can help you aide take down outposts and carry out missions in the world.

Raion was an instant hit with everyone there. Gamers and developers alike took turns petting him and stroking him. Some in-house photographers took snaps of him posing on the gaming sofas and the stairs leading down the basement. This basement was the ultimate gaming den with low level lighting, memorabilia and comfy sofas with gaming setups to play the game pre-release.

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YouTube Gamers including JackFrags were invited to the event to preview the game. The videos have hundreds of thousands of views and tons of interaction. Raion is now definitely their new favourite pup. The video below from YouTube sees Timber helping his friend.

It’s always fun to work with publishers on their new video games. The hype surrounding these events and launches are always something to behold. Thank you to Ubisoft for such a great event where the audience seemed to be as bigger dog lovers as video game lovers.