With Horizon Forbidden West now released worldwide, most would believe that the brunt of the marketing efforts has already been made. However, that isn't the case as Sony and Guerrilla Games have played their post-release marketing card. Fans around the world are reporting statues of one of Horizon Forbidden West's machines have been popping up in cities all around the world.
A string of posts have popped up on Reddit showing off an amazingly detailed sculpture of the clawstrider machine from Horizon Forbidden West. The statues are approximately 15 feet tall and Sony has even employed an Aloy cosplayer to accompany the statue in some places. The statues have so far shown up in Sydney, São Paulo, Madrid, New York City, and San Francisco. These statues show off the impressive size of these machines if they were real. As many as 15 clawstrider statues could exist all around the world.
The clawstriders, akin to velociraptors, are terrifying machines to encounter in Horizon Forbidden West and the statues have been finely sculpted to convey that terrifying coolness. Amazing levels of detail from the spikes in the tail to the chainsaw-like teeth have been magnificently recreated into these statues. These installations were reportedly placed on February 18, Horizon Forbidden West's launch day, and will remain until February 24th. The clawstrider statue is also accompanied by a QR Code that is a part of Sony's Treat Codes promotional giveaway.
Propping up clawstriders around the world is also a clever tactic that ties into the Horizon series' lore. In the game, the machines are built in what are called Cauldrons, and they exist all over the world, producing these terraforming machines and facilitating in rebuilding Earth's biosphere. The clawstriders are part of a class of machines called hunter-killers, machines made for the protection of the other machines from the humans that form their livelihoods from hunting for machine parts.
The use of the clawstrider for promotion for both the game and Sony's Treat Codes advertising is a clever play. Getting the word out for not only the game but also its PS5 giveaway draws more eyes onto the product rather than having promotions stick solely to the internet engagement and is more interactive than just having a billboard. Fans on Reddit that were lucky enough to be in one of the cities that had a clawstrider statue reported that the fact of just having a statue like this outside, garnering interest from people that may not have been aware of the game was positive. With some smartphones now having QR reader capabilities, people that were not fans before may have been prompted to the link that showed up when they took a picture of this strange statue.
Horizon Forbidden West is now available on PS4 and PS5.