Sid Lee Paris and Ubisoft Reveal What Big Data Says About Us with “Predictive World”

Every day, people create 2.5 billion gigabytes of data, from online purchases to Facebook likes. But does one know what this data says about him/her?

On November 10th, Sid Lee Paris and Ubisoft reveal “Predictive World”, an interactive digital experience with an advanced virtual system that predicts users’ profiles based on their digital footprint. The exploratory site was developed to promote the much-awaited release of Watch_Dogs 2 in which big data plays a key role. In the game, hero Marcus Holloway is wrongly profiled as a potential criminal by a city-wide operating system collecting and analyzing data on every citizen.

Predictive World was built based on a sophisticated algorithm developed by the University of Cambridge Psychometrics Centre using open data resources to generate highly accurate individual predictions. Collecting and processing users’ online footprints, the system is able to predict a range of over 70 personal attributes.

A core element of the experience is its interactivity. Thanks to over 6.4 billion data points collected, users can modify variables to evaluate their impact: how changes in location, age, gender, height, alcohol consumption and more could impact their life expectancy, the risk of being killed in a car crash, the odds of getting married, or even their income.

Predictive World and Watch_Dogs 2 are strong reminders that in today’s ultra-connected world, the systematic collection and processing of private data on a massive scale marks a new step in an era of rising surveillance. Predictive World lets users imagine how corporations, governments, or criminals could use their personal data against them, and help players understand the context of the game.

Credits

Sid Lee :

Chairman Sid Lee Paris – Sylvain Thirache

Creative Directors – Stéphane Soussan, Céline and Clément Mornet-Landa

Art Director – Ludovic Gontrand

CEO Sid Lee Paris – Johan Delpuech

Deputy Managing Director – Bruno Lee

Account Manager – Martin Cochet

Digital Production Director – David Bismut

Digital Producer – Clément Cassajus

VP Strategy – Alexandre Pasini

Strategist – Ambroise Soulé

Production Company – Stink Digital Paris

Data Provider – The University of Cambridge Psychometrics Centre

Business Development Director: Vesselin Popov

Director of Health Assessment: Dr Chris Gibbons

Psychometrician: Jana Hoferkova

Psychometrician: Esther Beierl

Ubisoft :

Ubisoft EMEA Marketing VP – Guillaume Carmona

Ubisoft EMEA Marketing Director – Lionel Hiller

Ubisoft EMEA Brand Manager – Guillaume Apesteguy

Sid Lee is a creative services firm with 600 professionals working globally from offices in Montreal, Toronto, Paris, New York and LA. The agency creates transformative consumer experiences for brands – across all contact points – leveraging true interdisciplinary collaboration. Rooted in strategic thinking, it offers services in the fields of branding, digital and social marketing, advertising, analytics, architecture and retail design, branded content and entertainment. Named “Agency of the Year” four times since 2009, the company has earned a global reputation for its progressive work and the solid results it achieved for top-tier clients. Sid Lee is also the creator and curator of C2 Montreal, one of the largest innovation events in the world, and is part of kyu, a new collective of creative companies established by Hakuhodo DY Holdings, the second largest agency network in Asia.

Ubisoft is a leading creator, publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment and services, with a rich portfolio of world-renowned brands, including Assassin’s Creed, Just Dance, Watch_Dogs, Tom Clancy’s video game series, Rayman and Far Cry. The teams throughout Ubisoft’s worldwide network of studios and business offices are committed to delivering original and memorable gaming experiences across all popular platforms, including consoles, mobile phones, tablets and PCs. For the 2015–16 fiscal year Ubisoft generated sales of €1,394 million.

 

The University of Cambridge Psychometrics Centre is an international centre of excellence dedicated to research, teaching and product development in both pure and applied psychological assessment. Founded in 1987 and active in Cambridge since 2005, the Centre’s research spans the fields of psychology, computer science, linguistics, health, mathematics and beyond to deliver cutting-edge thought leadership and assessment services to academia, business and the public sector. Combining psychometric expertise with Big Data analytics, professional training and open source software development, the Centre’s work has contributed to modernising and optimising testing in the online environment. Through its strategic position in the Executive Education branch of the Cambridge Judge Business School, the Centre operates at the forefront of knowledge transfer and collaborative research with industry to help tackle some of the most salient challenges facing society today.