The Rise Of Pablo Escobear
Read the story- Brand
- Universal
- Year
- 2023
- Objective
- Awareness
- Industry
- Entertainment
- Mechanic
- Arcade & Action
- Platform
- Web
Objective
Universal needed to keep "Cocaine Bear" in the conversation between its Super Bowl trailer debut and its theatrical release ten days later. Rather than buy more media, the studio gave fans a reason to talk about the film themselves: a free game built for screenshots and bragging rights, timed to peak right before opening weekend.
Solution
Players open the game in a browser, no download, and take control of the bear itself inside a top-down maze. Instead of running from ghosts, you're the one doing the chasing — hunting down campers and a fleeing ambulance while a cocaine meter at the top of the screen steadily drains; run out and the round ends. Movie clips play between levels, and when a run is over, players can post their score to social media and see how it stacks up on the leaderboard. On phones, the same maze is steered with on-screen arrow taps.
Results
100,000+ total gameplays; the film went on to $88 million in global box office.
- 1
The player opens the game page on the film's official site and starts a free browser run with no download or account required, after a short rules screen sets the goal: eat as much cocaine as possible and catch as many people as possible.
- 2
Each run drops the bear in the center of a 2D top-down maze in the style of Pac-Man, populated with wandering campers, a roaming ambulance, and cocaine scattered along the paths; the player steers the bear through the corridors with on-screen arrows on phone or the arrow keys on desktop.
- 3
A cocaine gauge at the top of the screen constantly drains, functioning as the run's countdown timer and the only resource the player has to manage.
- 4
The player refills the gauge by eating cocaine scattered through the maze — small piles restore a little, large bundles restore a lot.
- 5
The bear chases down campers rather than fleeing them, tearing into each one it catches to score points.
- 6
Four red duffel bags sit in the corners of the map; eating one grants the bear a temporary speed boost that makes catching campers easier.
- 7
An ambulance eventually arrives at the scene of the attacks, and intercepting it awards a large score bonus.
- 8
Rival drug dealers compete for the same cocaine and will clear it from the map if left unchecked; since enemies can't kill the bear, the run ends only when the cocaine gauge empties.
- 9
Clearing every camper on the map advances the player to the next level — the game alternates between two maze settings and periodically breaks the action with a short clip from the "Cocaine Bear" film.
- 10
On losing, the player sees their final score and can post it to social media, feeding a shared leaderboard that invites another run.
