Brands are moving from telling stories about a product to building story worlds that can generate products, partnerships and experiences for years to come.
Japanese creative collective NINJA BASKETBALL ANONYMOUS (May 2026) launched an NBA-sanctioned fictional universe where 16 ninja clans compete to unify feudal Japan through basketball rather than warfare. Built on regional history, ukiyo-e aesthetics and original typography inspired by ninja scholarship, the story world is designed to support products, licensing and future experiences.
Chinese game developer miHoYo (July 2026) released BSide: Olivia Lin, an AI companion app centred on a fictional Shanghai piano student. Users exchange personalised letters with Olivia and upload MIDI files that she performs through animated concerts. The app surpassed 100,000 Steam downloads during Early Access.
French augmented reality company BavAR[t] (December 2025–March 2027) partnered with SNCF and the French Ministry of Armed Forces to transform five railway stations into interactive historical worlds through 50 augmented reality points of interest, blending archival material, animation and location-based storytelling.
Could your brand still attract people if your current products disappeared tomorrow?
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