Today is the famous mobile game Clash of Clans’ 10th anniversary on the scene and the company is celebrating with commemorative walk down memory lane for the game’s 40-year-long history. Yep, to celebrate the tenth anniversary, Supercell, the Clash developers, released an over 20-minute-long documentary that depicts a world if Clash of Clans had premiered as an arcade game alongside classic staples like Pac-Man and other arcade icons. Partnered with ad agency Wieden + Kennedy, Supercell dropped Clash From the Past on YouTube and Twitter this morning, featuring various nods and gags that poke fun at the gaming industry’s history and evolution.
As most if not all of the documentary is fabricated, the film’s creators had plenty of room for homage and alternate history, showing a 1980s America swept up in Clash of Clans fever. In a world where video game protagonists Mario or Pac-Man successfully enraptured pop culture for years, it is no stretch to imagine Clash of Clan’s titular Barbarian character popping up on everything from Saturday morning cartoons to breakfast cereal. And of course, old toy manufacturers were in a production frenzy getting those Clash of Clans action figures out on shelves.
Shortly after the documentary’s release, Supercell’s brand creative lead Michael Gurman spoke extensively regarding the brand’s constant desire to push the envelope and “do things that only they would do.” Where “a lot of video game companies would celebrate their history, be proud of it, and use it as an occasion for chest-thumping a bit about their actual accomplishments,” Supercell wanted to take a different route. In keeping with their “history of being a bit mischievous” and “never taking ourselves too seriously,” the brand thought it would be subversive to speak to a fictional history and spend no time on their own, actual history; basically, as Gurman states:
We thought it would be really fun to give our fans 30 extra years of history that didn’t exist.
Aside from the fake documentary, Supercell is giving fans a bit extra for the 10th anniversary: three different retro-inspired minigames playable in the Clash of Clans app. The first of these, called Clash, is a reimagined Clash of Clans in arcade game form. A 90s console racer called Clash Dash is next, then an early 2000s open-world fighter, Clash: Cradle of Darkness, to close out the promotional mini-games. Clearly, each is era-specific and has been reportedly “remastered” to fit the app, Supercell attempting to connect these mini-games and the other 10th anniversary tie-ins into a wider narrative. So, around this time, fans can find real-life Clash-themed General Mills cereal called Boom Boom, an apparel collection with Champion, and a new series of Clash Garbage Pail Kids. For any fans of the game, this is the perfect time to get your fill of the brand. As Gurman said:
Everything is tied together in an attempt to create this plausible alternate reality for fans to have fun with.