Season 3 Websites
Westworld is a dark odyssey about the dawn of artificial consciousness and the question of free will, created for television by Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy, based on the film written by Michael Crichton. Season 3 is set in the near future of 2058, where technology and AI guide daily interactions, and Incite, a sleek tech company, predicts and optimizes human destiny through collected data. While, Rico, a digital criminal network, capitalizes on these tech developments in its own “underground” way.
Westworld’s expanded website ecosystem brought viewers into Season 3’s not-too-distant future where technology and data solve some of life’s biggest obstacles, while posing the question: At what cost?
INCITE
The Incite experience began with the company’s mission to create a better future for everyone by harnessing the power of our data. As the season went on, the website changed, demonstrating the cracks in Incite's facade, and showing it slowly breaking down.
During Incite's 2019 Wired25 panel, InciteInc.com launched with the company’s mission statement, user sign-up and the company's anthem video.
As Incite debuted its new strategy engine on the ground at CES 2020, the website added new sections including “Our Services,” “How It Works,” and “Company Values.”
In the next beat, the digital narrative timeline shifted, and Incite Inc. primed superfans for the release of the Season 3 trailer by emailing them the Privacy Act of 2039. The newsletter copy outlined new rules for Incite's data usage, and covertly included the trailer release date within the body of the email.
When the trailer premiered on Incite’s website, fans soon discovered that four unique versions existed -- and not everyone was served the same trailer. This digital narrative told fans the more data Incite had, the better the experience.
On the night of Season 3's premiere, InciteInc.com welcomed fans to 2058 with an updated, sleek aesthetic, mimicking the spherical design seen in this season's date announce teaser. Site updates also included company tech pages and a demo showcasing 2058's advancements in psychopharmacology, Limbic tabs.
Timed to the precise moment in episode 5 where Dolores released the world's Incite profiles, fans were sent an Incite newsletter announcing trouble with the system, driving them to a glitching version of the site.
Finally, in line with the season finale where Incite is seemingly destroyed, InciteInc.com “erases” itself, leaving only a cryptic, hidden audio message from Dolores leaving fans to wonder where we'll go next.
RICO
To feature Rico, the underground criminal network, a locked Rico site with a more aggressive tone and a different visual style from the rest of the campaign.
A Rico website, makemoneymotherfuckers.com (nodding to their slogan on the show), launched without social promotion, leaving it to the active fanbase to discover.
In tandem with the social #RICOWorld activation, where Rico had "hacked" the Westworld handles, fans received an Incite newsletter also “hacked” by Rico, driving to the updated website.
DELOS
The company that had been the main business discussed in previous seasons, and still featured in this one, received updates to reflect their place in this new world.
Delos’s company website was given a new navigation and Products section, showcasing their robotics capabilities seen in season 3.
With a consistent overlay, Delos’s travel site messaged "issues" to mirror the parks' closures due to the events that took place in season 2. In the latest season, the site was updated with newly mentioned parks, and chatbot Aeden sent a farewell message as he, like all other hosts, went into the “sublime.”
During the course of the season, when the Delos board was taken over by Incite, new footer language appeared to read: An Incite Company.