To celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Hip Hop in August of 2023, Call of Duty partnered with iconic Hip Hop stars, bringing them in-game, as playable Operators — this included working with 21 Savage to bring his new track “Call Me Revenge” to life with an original music video.

Throughout its multi-decade history, Call of Duty has continuously innovated. So, instead of intercutting a live action music video with in-game cinematics, we endeavored to do the unprecedented.

Done right, this would blow both Hip Hop and Call of Duty fans away, authentically speaking to their relationship with the music and their in-game experiences with COD. While impressing fans, it would also pull them deeper into the themes of the upcoming Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III.

We wanted to push beyond cute, surface-level in-game integrations and produce a video filmed fully within the boundaries of in-game capture.

Activision built the first music video produced fully in-game for a Grammy award-winning recording artist: 21 Savage.

With the rapper’s Operator model as an actor, experimental editing, and unique visual effects, we produced a fully in-game music video.

The video showcases 21 making his way across iconic Call of Duty locations, dispatching enemies with his custom Weapon skins, and all around looking like a complete badass.

Once we were done bobbing our heads to the video about 1,000 times, fans reacted in kind.

The message was clear: Call of Duty champions Hip Hop, its shared fans, and its most influential contributors.

The collision of music and games isn’t new. But, most musical crossovers don’t speak to the in-game experience — or feature visuals that aren’t true to the music. Our celebration of the 50th anniversary of Hip Hop needed to authentically reach both Hip Hop and gaming audiences.

To celebrate and excite our audiences, we needed something true to both cultures:

A bespoke music video made with real in-game capture and a track that spoke to the intense, explosive themes of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III.

The scale of the partnership demanded premium output - so no amount of time was spared as we worked around the clock sketching out shots, directing in-game capture, and editing it all together into a video worthy of its great song.

In-game capture requires a level of creative problem solving as you navigate the particular limits of your build and the game engine it’s supporting.

Multiple teams coordinated daily to share capture, treat footage, and weave the right assets into the edit in-time with the beat and energy of the track.

The music video was an immediate hit with fans of 21 Savage and Call of Duty players, receiving over 4M views on YouTube and social channels, with over 14M Spotify plays.

The surprising collaboration as well as our unique in-game-capture approach gave the video a boost well past expectations and cemented 21 Savage as a legendary operator in Call of Duty.