As the acronym suggests, the QSR (quick-service restaurant) space moves quickly. It’s a never-ending sprint to the next product or service innovation, or strategy to make things faster, easier, and in this market, more entertaining. The world of online gaming is no different; constantly innovating to make their games more immersive, more connected and therefore more fun.

So when Call of Duty: Warzone released their new ‘Proximity Chat’ audio feature to give players the ability to communicate via voice chat when their characters are within ‘earshot’, it was the perfect opportunity to fuse both worlds while creating an experience that hijacked the game in the most delicious way possible.

The Pizza Hunt is the world’s first in-game pizza ordering… game.

Assuming the role of a ‘pizza delivery person’, the campaign partnered Pizza Hut’s dedicated gaming branch (‘The Hut Games’) with some of Warzone’s most popular streamers to challenge entire game lobbies of 150 virtual soldiers to find them in a map that stretches over 7km2. The best bounty hunters that got within the earshot radius could then use the innovative proximity chat feature to order their free pizza, to be delivered straight to their door within the hour.

Call of Duty Warzone is a fast-paced, hyper-competitive, and hyper-engaging multiplayer game where the only downtime is the precious minute they have while the next 30-minute game loads up. Fact is, even when players aren’t playing, they’re watching others play, making up one of the biggest streaming viewer communities in existence.

All that to say, Warzone players weren’t just going to switch their attention away from the game because a pizza company told them to. They needed to win it in-game by using their hard-earned Call Of Duty: Warzone skills and having fun with a new feature, or through uniquely engaging and rewarding streaming content.

So, an activation that would help Pizza Hut rub elbows with the entire gaming community, no matter whether they’re playing or not, while elevating their beloved Warzone game with real tasty rewards? That’s a win on any front.

When players would be gearing up in the pre-game lobby, ‘pizza delivery’ streamers would announce to the 149 other players to find them in the war zone and order free Pizza Hut using the new proximity chat feature.

From the moment they were dropped in the game, it was game on. Setting up shop in building wreckages, virtual soldiers put their best foot forward and used all theirs tools to track them down. And instead of ‘shooting on sight’ like they would usually, the lucky players who were successful spoke directly to the ‘pizza delivery people’ to make their order.

That order would then be turned into a bespoke and secure Pizza Hut link sent straight to them in-game through Activision private chat, only requiring them to press send on their address between games (through suggested text). And within the hour, the hot pizza was at their door.

The Pizza Hunt hijacked one of the world’s biggest multiplayer games, averaging 3 million daily players, seeing them playing alongside Pizza Hut rather than interrupted by it.

With well over 25,000 players reached during the length of the activation, the premise of the game was challenged as 150 geared-up, virtual soldiers briefly dropped their weapons for the love of Pizza Hut.

For all those who weren’t playing, viewers were glued to the streams of their favourite influencers, averaging engagement of over 60 minutes per viewer. They would engage directly with influencers with live prompts, winning pizza of their own. And with some streamers haphazardly finding themselves on the other end of the activation, the news of the stunt kept spreading organically.

With over 5000 free pizzas being won and delivered, Pizza Hunt officially became Pizza Hut’s most engaging gaming activation of all time.