Roku’s Reward Short Film
Before Pokémon GO sent players hunting through real-world locations, we envisioned a city transformed into an interactive gaming landscape. Roku's Reward (released in 2005) demonstrated how augmented reality would blend physical environments with digital play, creating a vision so compelling that viewers and investors, years later, still asked when they could play the game.
Make it stand out
In 2005, when augmented reality existed primarily in research labs, we created a vision that foreshadowed gaming's future direction. This wasn't just conceptual storytelling—it was innovation archaeology, uncovering possibilities before technology could fully realize them.
Background & Context
The challenge seemed simple: create a video showcasing HP's backend telecommunications infrastructure. But rather than focusing on server racks and network diagrams, we asked a more compelling question: "What experiences might this technology eventually enable?"
Our answer became Roku's Reward—a cinematic vision of a teenage boy racing through San Francisco streets, his handheld device transforming the city into an immersive gaming landscape. Buildings became interfaces, landmarks revealed hidden information, and the physical environment transformed into a playable digital space.
The most revealing outcome wasn't technical but human—the persistent question from viewers years later: "When can I play this game?" The concept resonated so deeply that people forgot they were watching a vision of the future rather than an actual product release.
What makes this project significant isn't just its prescience about AR gaming, but how it demonstrates the power of tangible storytelling in making abstract technological possibilities feel immediate and desirable.
Client: HP | Year: 2005 | Services: Ideation, Innovation Storytelling, Script Development, Executive Producer