The Sims is 25. Call of Duty is 20. Candy Crush is 13. And Zelda is creeping up on its 40th birthday. Video games that people grew up playing have turned into franchises, and those franchises are now hiring serious, heavyweight brand agencies – we’re talking teams that have worked with the likes (and budgets) of Airbnb, Microsoft and Bose. It’s a movement that’s brought together Collins x The Sims, DesignStudio x EA Sports and Koto x Call of Duty.

And it makes sense. In the past, all games companies really needed was some eye-catching cover artwork and some ads, and the sales rolled in. Nowadays titles have longer lifespans, more platforms and a vastly bigger potential audience. More than that, games makers have realised they’re sitting on some of the most valuable IP in the world, and they need equally high calibre creative teams to help them brand it.

“It’s almost the best opportunity for brand; it’s so emotional and the relationships that people have with titles are so much more invested than with technology companies, for example,” says Jowey Roden, CCO and founder at Koto. “It’s much more akin to a sports team, and the fandom you’d experience there. For lack of a better word, it’s brand love, essentially.”