30 YEARS OF FLUID This April, Fluid celebrates its 30th birthday - a milestone that marks an incredible


creative journey since the company’s inception in a rented office in Birmingham. Step back in time as we chart three decades of Fluid, tracing the evolution of videogame marketing and reliving some of the industry’s most unforgettable creative moments


B


ack in 1996, MD James Glover’s persistence cold-calling local record labels eventually paid off as he bagged a pitch and Fluid won


their first project, creating reissue artwork for The Stone Roses. Projects for dance label Network Records, then EMI and Warner followed, leading to an NME album art feature. Birmingham-based publisher U.S. Gold spotted


the studio’s work and invited them to pitch for a game called Johnny Bazookatone on the SEGA Saturn. Fluid won the work, got a foot in the door of the fledgling games industry. Hard work knocking on doors and hustling for


more clients paid off; by 1997, Fluid had secured its first major commission with Sony PlayStation: point- of-sale creative for Final Fantasy VII - and years later, also worked on the remake. Final Fantasy VII was a global phenomenon, and a foot in the door with giants Sony. Fluid’s


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creative partnership with PlayStation expanded, with commissions across PlayStation branding, hardware launches (PS1, PS2, PS3), key art and press materials placing the studio at the heart of an industry that was rapidly maturing. By the early 2000s, Fluid had evolved from a


Midlands music-led design shop into a trusted creative partner for global entertainment brands. Fluid’s brand team has shaped some of the most


recognisable gaming IP of the past 25 years. From early work with Capcom on Resident Evil, Dead Rising, Onimusha and Killer7, to campaigns like Alien: Isolation with SEGA and Creative Assembly, the studio built its reputation on understanding how to translate interactive worlds into compelling brand systems.


EVOLUTIONS In the early days, campaigns were regional. European key art differed from North America,


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