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Company Cameo

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Company Cameo (trope)
For a company as big as Warner Bros., you'd think they'd use more than just tape.
Sometimes the logos in the Title Sequence just aren't enough. Maybe the companies that made the series, film, or game are taking pride in their work, maybe they just like Easter Eggs and Freeze Frame Bonuses, or maybe they're poking fun at themselves or at the higher-ups. Either way, they're literally leaving their mark within their media, as well as out.

Logos are the most common form of this, though other forms, such as direct namedrops and initialisms, exist too.

A Sub-Trope of The Cameo. Compare with Creator Cameo; this trope encompasses a company at large, while that trope highlights particular people. The two can possibly overlap, though (such as a game having a Developer's Room based on the company itself, which contains appearances from people who worked on it). See also Product Placement, which in this case is a meta placement of the company itself, Company Cross-References, which are nods to other works that are produced or owned by the same studio (or another that they work under), and Console Cameo, where a game references the hardware that it's on.


Examples:

    open/close all folders 

    Alternate Reality Games 
  • Omega Mart: Two of the products sold at Omega Mart are Lil Meow Gruel for Cats and Healthy Wolf Lonely Hiker Protein Feast, which are a reference to Meow Wolf, the art collective that created Omega Mart. In case you don't get the hint, a whole aisle is dedicated to both products, with Lil Meow Gruel and Healthy Wolf alternating every other row and column.

    Anime & Manga 

    Asian Animation 
  • BoBoiBoy:
    • In Season 1 Episode 12 of the original show, the end credits of a Soap Within a Show called Knapsack of Roses show that it's distributed by Animonsta Telenovela. Animonsta was the old name for the BoBoiBoy production company Monsta, and the logo used in the soap has the same green monster as their logo at the time.
    • In the first episode of BoBoiBoy Galaxy, the "M" of Monsta Studios’ logo can be spotted on a soccer ball.
  • Boonie Bears:
    • Logger Vick's Swiss army flag in The Adventurers 2 has series company Fantawild Animation's logo, a square with multiple colors and a T in white, on the actual flag.
    • In The Adventurers 2 episode 35, wondering what would happen if he found the monster said to be nearby the forest, Logger Vick imagines he is being interviewed by multiple news reporters, one holding a microphone with Fantawild's logo on it.
  • Lamput:
    • A sign in the background in "Signs" reads "PRODUCER WANTED! URGENT! CONTACT VAIBHAV STUDIOS". Vaibhav Studios is the company that produces Lamput.
    • If you look to the left of the MFC restaurant in "Diet Doc", there is a building with a sign reading "Inspidea", the name of the company that Lamput has its animation outsourced to.
    • A sign near the beginning of the episode "Origins" reads "Inspidea".
  • Motu Patlu (2012): There's a tendency for in-series companies to have "Maya" in their names (for example, Maya Courier Services and Maya Sounds), referring to Cosmos-Maya who produces the series.
  • The Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf spin-off Mr.Wolffy, Mr.Right! takes place in a building modeled after Creative Power Entertaining's real building, with the logo and several pieces of artwork from their other works appearing in the background.
  • There are at least two in Simple Samosa alluding to Disney Channel, whose Indian feed serves at the channel where the series premiered:
    • In "Samosa Mama", the courtroom's wi-fi password is spelled out "D-I-S-N-E-Y".
    • In "Simple Hitchki", the "hitch-key"note  to the hospital room containing the hiccup patients is "DISNEY".

    Comic Books 
  • In The Hair Bear Bunch story "Mission Fantastical," the bears are recruited to be covert agents assigned to locate missing stolen bank money from decades past. To do that, they have to jog the memory of the thief who, having been released from prison, now has amnesia. They take him to a deserted movie studio to re-enact the crime. The studio: Hanna-Barbera.

    Films — Animation 
  • In Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown, a movie is shown on the airplane to London that contains the logo of Paramount Pictures, the company that distributed this movie.
  • In Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf: The World Guardians, Weslie's bike and helmet, and a computer Wolffy does research with, have Creative Power Entertaining's website domain name "22DM" on it. The name comes from how the average age for the company's employees at the time was 22, and how they wanted to focus on donghua and manhua (Chinese animation and comics, respectively).
  • Ralph Breaks the Internet has an extended sequence where Vanellope visits the Disney website.
  • The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants: SpongeBob's journey through Challenge Cove is interrupted by an announcement by the movie's distributor, Paramount Pictures, who are represented with a much older logo of theirs that bears the "A Gulf + Western Company" byline. The announcement features J.K. Fishlips, an executive of the company, who complains about there not being any celebrities in this movie and demands that Sandy Cheeks be added. Not that it does much, as the digital likeness of Sandy turns into one of the monsters SpongeBob's supposed to be fighting, within seconds of it appearing for the first time.

    Films — Live-Action 
  • Anchors Aweigh: At one point, Susan goes for a screen test at the MGM Studios in Culver City.
  • Animal House: During the "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue, it is said that Babs went on to become a tour guide on the Universal Studios Tour.
  • In The Cat in the Hat (2003), there is Product Placement done for Universal Theme Parks. Universal Studios made this movie.
  • Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978): The Transamerica Pyramid is prominently featured in the background throughout the film. At the time, the Transamerica Corporation owned United Artists. During filming, the crew joked that their masters were watching them from on high.
  • Jumanji: The Next Level: One of the players in Jumanji is a Pegasus named Cyclone, in a shoutout to TriStar having produced the first Jumanji film.note 
  • King Kong (2005): The special effects in the movie were done by the New Zealand-based effects studio Wētā FX (then known as Wētā Digital); their name and logo are based on a type of giant, flightless cricket native to New Zealand. During the bug pit scene, one of the Big Creepy-Crawlies attacking the humans are huge, carnivorous wetas.
  • The Matrix Resurrections: Smith informs Tom that their parent corporation, Warner Bros. (who produced the trilogy), wants a fourth installment of Tom's popular Matrix game series.
  • ''The Muppets:
    • It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie: When Daniel asks how Karen Bitterman could own so much property in the Kermit-less universe, Kermit remarks "Corporate synergy, it's out of control", as he lifts his flipper to reveal the logo of producer and broadcaster company NBC on the sole.
    • A deleted scene from Muppets Most Wanted features a group of Disney Channel stars showing up to Kermit and Miss Piggy's wedding and proclaiming that they are the "Disney synergy invites".
  • The New York Hat: In this 1912 short, the "AB" logo of production company American Biograph can be seen on the wall of the living room where Miss Harding sometimes meets the friendly reverend, and where she tries on her fancy hat. This was actually an anti-piracy device practiced by Biograph, because in the early silent era film piracy was rampant.
  • Road to Utopia: At one point during the sledding across Alaska, Bob Hope's character points to a mountain and says to "get a load of that bread and butter", when Crosby says it is just a mountain, Hope replies that it might be a mountain to Crosby, but to him it is his bread and butter; the Paramount Logo then forms around the mountain.
  • Space Jam:
    • The first film has Daffy Duck proudly declaring that his butt is "Property of Warner Bros."
    • The sequel Space Jam: A New Legacy features an introduction to the Warner Bros. Server-verse through a reverse shot of the 2021 Warner Bros logo.

    Live-Action TV 
  • During the first two years of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood the show intro would begin every episode with a house resembling the NET logo in the model neighborhood and the show would end on a shot of the same house. NET was the channel where the show aired for its first two years before moving to PBS when it replaced NET.
  • Money Heist: The various news programs of Antena 3, its sister channel La Sexta, and its related radio channel Onda Cero (under their parent company Atresmedia, the series' original distributor for its first two seasons) appear numerous times on televisions and computers to broadcast news relating to the heists, including after Netflix's acquisition of the series from Season 3 onwards. They even keep the programs' real-life newsreaders as the speakers. The scene in "A Matter of Efficiency" where the Professor, Raquel, Prieto, Suárez and Mariví all watch the in-universe live episode of La Sexta's program Al Rojo Vivo wherein the Plan Cameroon hostage interviews are broadcast also has several bits showing the program itself and nothing else.
  • Odd Squad: In the episode "Olive and Otto in Shmumberland", the publishing company of the Shmumberman comic series uses the logo of Sinking Ship Entertainment, one of the companies that produces the show.
  • Odd Squad: Mobile Unit: "The Sandwich Project" has the Mobile Unit agents visiting Pittsburgh, which is the home base of Fred Rogers Productions, the other company that produces the show, although they don't visit the studio (presumably because it's not open to the general public).

    Pinballs 

    Radio 
  • Our Miss Brooks was sponsored by Colgate-Palmolive for most of its radio run (although not its coexisting television run). Palmolive used the program to promote its "Lucky Goldmine" contest in story. For example, in "Game at Clay City" Walter and Harriet try to guess the latest clue. The most notable Company Cameo was in the July 31st, 1949 episode, "Connie's New Job Offer". One morning, Mrs. Davis informed Miss Brooks that the (real) winner of $49,000 was the personal secretary for a mayor of a small New Jersey town. In this story, Miss Brooks had once worked for the same mayor! Connie considers returning to her old job. It was sure to be open now, the secretary having won $49,000 in the Colgate-Palmolive "Lucky Goldmine" Contest! Ultimately, Connie decides against going back to New Jersey and chooses to remain a teacher at Madison High School.

    Toys 
  • Several LEGO sets feature LEGO merchandise being sold in them, such as the LEGO City set "LEGO Truck" and the LEGO Monkie Kid set "The City of Lanterns".
  • Transformers:
    • A Freeze-Frame Bonus in the first episode of Transformers: Energon reveals that High Wire's motorbike mode is manufactured by franchise co-producer Takara.
    • The first issue of The Transformers: All Hail Megatron shows a wide-shot of Times Square, including shops adorned with the logos of franchise producers Hasbro, Takara, and Tomynote .
    • An issue of The Transformers: More than Meets the Eye includes a young kid named Brandon wearing a t-shirt with Hasbro's 80's-era logo on it who filmed Grimlock's rampage in Amarillo, Texas. He also compares Grimlock (a robot dinosaur) to a Zoidnote .

    Video Games 
  • Adventure Island II stars Hudson Soft's bee mascot as a secret collectible found early in the game.
  • In Age of Empires II, using the "Marco" (reveal map) and "Polo" (remove Fog of War) cheats in the William Wallace tutorial campaign's first mission will reveal that the bottom-right corner of the map has a bunch of trees that spell out the logo of game developers Ensemble Studios.
  • Alice: Madness Returns: The logo of developer Spicy Horse can be found graffitied on the back of a statue outside the temple at the end of the Oriental Grove by using Alice's Shrink Sense.
  • Alpine Racer 3 has banners advertising Namco on the sides of tracks.
  • AmsterDoom has posters for Davilex Software, the game's developer, in the subway stages.
  • Animal Crossing: Nintendo often makes minor cameos in this series, with one of the earliest being a bench bearing their logo and website URL.
  • ANNO: Mutationem: Vanguard Sound, who produced the soundtrack for the game, has their building appear marked with the studio's logo during the Ruthless Rooftops segment at Noctis City.
  • AQUARIUM (2022): The Francois family crest has a Hololive logo in the middle.
  • Banjo-Tooie: Rare's logo can be seen in several places in Grunty Industries, including on blue-colored barrels that have to be exploded with Grenade Eggs to unveil a Jiggy, and on various crates scattered throughout the level.
    • Artwork for the game would depict Banjo's backpack as having the golden "R" used on Rare's logo, though for a number of reasons, this detail wouldn't be depicted in-game until the duo made their debut in (the Bandai-Namco developed) Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
  • Barry Steakfries:
    • Coins in Jetpack Joyride occasionally appear in a formation that spells out "HB", short for Halfbrick Studios. Arcade port of the game features two additional coin patterns that spell out "Sarbakan" and "ADRENALINE" (for "Adrenaline Amusements"), who developed and published it respectively.
    • Jetpack Joyride 2 has a similar coin formation that spells out "HALFBRICK".
  • BattleTech (2018): Among the available emblems for your merc company are the Harebrained Schemes rabbit mascot and the Paradox Interactive platypus fossil.
  • In Bayonetta, as Bayonetta and Jeanne are fighting on top of the missile, it flies by the Platinum Games building at one point. The P+ logo is also seen at the bottom of the screen of the arcade machine during the Angel Attack mini-game.
  • Bayonetta 3's 2021 gameplay reveal trailer has a billboard reading "Platinum" on the right at the beginning. Viewers who noticed this were able to work out that Bayonetta's latest game had escaped Development Hell before the lady herself appeared about a minute and a half later.
  • Borderlands: Any weapons or equipment not made by one of the series' in-game companies (such as those given out as pre-order bonuses or through special events) have Gearbox Software as their manufacturer.
  • Burnout developer Criterion Games' bulldog logo and wordmark appear in various places throughout the series, whether it be a trackside billboard or as one of the various sponsors on several cars.
  • Call of Duty: Black Ops III: The coffee mug on the coffee machine in "Micro" has Treyarch's logo with text reading "20th Anniversary" below it, if you submerge in the coffee and look towards the bottom of the cup.
  • Ciel Fledge: The white orca pin accessory that can be purchased for Ciel is shaped just like the orca from the Studio Namaapa logo.
  • Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3: In the Empire mission "Rage of the Black Tortoise," the headquarter of EA Los Angeles, the development team of the game, is stationed close to the Empire base. Humorously, you can destroy the building as it is considered a hostile target, with its description stating that destroying the studio would cause damages to the space-time continuum.
  • Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled references its developers, Beenox, a few times:
    • Their logo can be seen on the entrance of the second tunnel with sharp turns in Android Alley.
    • One of the various livery packs you can buy is the Beenox Pack, which includes their name, logo, and color scheme among four characters, a vehicle sticker, a vehicle paint job, and a set of wheels. Beenox Robot Geary in particular is based on their former mascot.
    • The last update to the game added Beenox Crates, which have the company's logo on the sides, to every racetrack in the game. There's a secret reward for breaking all of them.
  • CrossCode has some references to its creators, RadicalFishGames — mainly in the form of the bespectacled, mustached, top hat-wearing fish mascot featured in their logo:
    • Early versions of the game had "Sir Radfish van Blubb", whose dialogue sprite was the company's logo itself. He was used to give messages from the developers, and is decidedly non-canon.
    • The Developer's Room has a desk decoration based on the fish from their logo.
    • One sidequest has you fighting against another in-universe player named Sao. After defeating him, his Sore Loser complaints get him booted from the game by RadicalFishGames themselves.
    • In the credits of the "A New Home" DLC, you fight "RadFish" - blue fish with mustaches, top hats, and sunglasses, just like the mascot.
  • In Crown Delights Deli, the baconeggandcheese logo is one of the posters at the bodega's front.
  • Crush's Nintendo 3DS remake has several unlockable robes to wear. Among them are a blue one with publisher Sega's logo on it for getting all the Marbles in the final level, and a white one with developer Zoë Mode's logo on it for completing all the levels in the third world, Funfair.
  • Dave the Diver: The dream sequence after the ending has Dave dream of flying into space in a mint-coloured rocket similar to the Mintrocket logo.
  • Deadpool (2013): Deadpool sticks to his usual No Fourth Wall schtick. Since he's in a video game, this time that includes calling out the development studio that made it, High Moon Studios, typically (though not always) to mock them.
  • Destroy All Humans! (2020): The Pre-Order Bonus BFG-137 skin is named after Black Forest Games, the company that developed the remake.
  • Donkey Kong:
    • Donkey Kong Country:
      • Cranky Kong's cabin prominently has the Nintendo logo hanging on the front.
      • The Giant Bananas recovered after beating a boss all have stickers with Nintendo's logo on them.
      • Millstone Mayhem has a bonus level where you have to spell out "Rare" for an Enguarde Token, while Slipslide Ride has one that makes you spell "Nintendo" for an extra life.
    • Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest:
      • Diddy Kong's red cap first received its Nintendo logo in this game. Similarly, his girlfriend Dixie has a golden Rareware pin on her beret, which can be seen on the title screen and in certain bonus room title cards.
      • The title screen shows Diddy and Dixie opening a chest full of loot. Among that loot is the golden R that was part of Rare's logo at the time (long before it eventually returned to an update of that logo).
      • Cranky's Monkey Museum contains the logos of both Nintendo and Rare among the various objects in the background.
      • The Giant Bananas with Nintendo's logo return from the first game. One appears in Swanky's Bonus Bonanza, and a few appear in the final boss arena, the Flying Krock.
      • The final question of "Wrinkly's Winner" (the first Swanky's Bonus Bonanza quiz in Krazy Kremland) has Swanky ask "What is the name of the two companies that produced this game and Donkey Kong Country?". The correct answer is, of course, "Rare / Nintendo".
      • A secret room in "Parrot Chute Panic" has bananas in the shape of the R on Rare's logo.
      • The last bonus room of "Web Woods" has stars in the shape of Rare's R.
    • The backs of the cards in Donkey Kong Land III's memory match minigame have Rareware's R on them.
    • Diddy Kong Racing:
      • In artwork for the original game, Timber's hat has the golden R of Rareware's logo on it. In the DS remake, it instead has the Nintendo DS logo on it, though Timber's Balloon Pop, a Flash game formerly hosted on Nintendo's official website, instead gave it a Nintendo logo similar to Diddy's cap.
      • Rare's logo appears in a few courses, such as on a stone ramp in Ancient Lake, a marking on a wall in Frosty Village, and on neon signs on buildings in Star City.
    • Donkey Kong 64:
      • The small arches leading to Tiny Kong's racing mission in Frantic Factory have Rareware's golden R in the middle of them.
      • Throughout the game you collect blueprints that you trade to Snide for Golden Bananas, and when visiting him you can look at the full diagram which is filled out based on which ones you return and from what levels. Chunky Kong's Fungi Forest blueprint has the Rareware logo on it when added to the diagram.
      • Two major collectibles that are required to reach the Final Boss are the Nintendo Coin, which has the N64 logo on it, and the Rareware Coin, emblazoned with the company's golden "R" logo (unlike the Rareware Golden Banana, it doesn't have the blue box surrounding it). Both items are hidden in Embedded Precursors of games made by the companies earlier; Nintendo's is rewarded for completing round 2 of Donkey Kong (1981), while Rare's randomly spawns as a pickup when you earn 5000 or more points in Jetpac, a game made by Rare back when they were known as Ultimate Play The Game.
      • The secret 201st Golden Banana, hidden in a room next to the Banana Fairy Queen's throne room, has a Rareware sticker on it. (The other 200 Golden Bananas spread throughout the game instead have stickers with the Nintendo 64 logo on them.)
      • The final boss battle is a boxing match stated to be "brought to you this evening by Rare and Nintendo in association with K.Rool Enterprises." The arena you fight the final boss in also has the Rareware logo and Nintendo 64's N-cube logo on the sides.
      • The unlockable Rambi Arena and Enguarde Arena minigames take place in stadiums with Rareware and Nintendo's logo adorning the sides.
  • EarthBound:
    • There's an ad for HAL Laboratory on a billboard in Threed and a building in Fourside booked for a meeting about the creation of EarthBound 2. Only APE Software Development team members are allowed inside, though.
    • In the Japanese version of the game, one of the default names you can pick for PSI Rockin is "APE".
  • Excite: Excitebike prominently features Nintendo's name on the stands in the background.
  • EXTRAPOWER has the Lucky Lamp appear as secret Easter Eggs in EXTRAPOWER: Star Resistance and EXTRAPOWER: Giant Fist. In Star Resistance, the lamp can be found by performing a Final Crash on background objects in stages 3 and 5, and by destroying Mookin's head in Stage 4. On top of granting bonus score, the lamps grant power up, life up, or max life up depending on the stage they're found in. For Giant Fist, the Lucky Lamp is hidden in specific tiles in certain stages. Finding it releases the Lucky Djinn, who grants unlimited use of special attacks and the use of EXTRAPOWER attacks without needing to be at low health. Not bad for finding the company logo!
  • Fuse references its developers Insomniac Games a few times:
    • Every character has an "Insomniac" skin, which gives them a light cyan top of a similar shade to the moon in Insomniac's logo.
    • The collectible Fuse Credits have "IG" printed at the bottom of them.
  • Ghostbusters: The Video Game: In the Stylized versions, advertisements around New York City depict the logos of Red Fly Studios and Atari, the developers of the game.
  • Grabbed by the Ghoulies:
    • 100 Bonus Books are hidden around the game's levels, which depict the golden "R" symbol used on Rare's logo on the cover.
    • There are several blue shirts hung up in the laundry room that bear Rare's name and their golden "R" symbol.
  • Grand Theft Auto III: There are several billboards in Aspatria with developer Rockstar Games' logo on them.
  • Hi-Fi RUSH: The tiny snails in some parts of the game are based on developer Tango Gameworks' company logo.
  • Jet Set Radio:
    • The first game references its publisher Sega a handful of times:
      • The semi-trucks have mudflaps reading "SEGA".
      • Grind City has signs advertising sega.com.
      • In the HD rerelease, you receive five bonus graffiti tags to customize your spray with for unlocking the final Secret Character, and the Large one is a stylized Sega logo.
    • Smilebit, the team that developed the game, can be seen being advertised on a billboard in Grind Square.
  • Just Cause has a few nods to the series developers, Avalanche Studios:
  • Kirby references its creators, HAL Laboratory, several times throughout the series:
    • A recurring Easter Egg throughout the series is the HAL Room, so named because it contains those three letters built into the room itself. Other games that don't have such rooms will often find a way to hide the letters elsewhere, such as Kirby's Blowout Blast having coins appear in three separate locations of the final level that are arranged to spell "H", "A", and "L".
    • Starting with Kirby Super Star Ultra, one of the possible transformations of the Stone ability is a golden box with HAL's logo, the Dream Hatcher, on the front of it.
    • In Kirby's Return to Dream Land and every later main Kirby title, another possible Stone transformation is HAL Laboratory's Yamanashi R&D Center (with Mt. Fuji in the background). After Kirby repairs the Lor Starcutter, Magolor takes them to his home planet Halcandra, which is named after HAL.
    • Kirby: Triple Deluxe:
      • One of the collectible Keychains depicts a "Golden Egg Statue", which is the HAL Laboratory logo as it appears in its Stone transformation in Super Star Ultra.
      • Any Keychain that's big enough to fit HAL's logo on the back will have it if you turn it around in the Keychain Collection menu.
    • Kirby: Planet Robobot has HAL's Dream Hatcher as a collectible sticker that can be placed on Kirby's Robobot Armor, and the villainous Haltmann Works Company is named for them.
    • In the Japanese version of Kirby Star Allies, the Jambastion is called "Jamahalda", and the larger Jambandra Base is called "Majuhalgalor".
    • The three corporations in the background of Kirby and the Forgotten Land are called Holine, Alivel, and Lightron, which spell out "HAL".
  • The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker has a long-term sidequest in the form of the Nintendo Gallery, an empty museum that you end up filling with figurines of every character in the game by showing their photos to Carlov the sculptor.
  • LEGO Adaptation Game:
  • In LEGOLAND, one of the buildable shops is a LEGO Media Shop, which is shaped like the LEGO Media logo.
  • The Like a Dragon series allows you to go to Sega-owned arcades and play classic titles like OutRun, Virtua Fighter, and even Sonic the Fighters.
  • LittleBigPlanet contains multiple references to its multiple developers.
    • Original developers Media Molecule are frequently referenced in their initialism of "Mm".
      • The "Sleeping Elephant" sticker has "Mm" on its forehead.
      • The "Cassette Tape" sticker has text reading "Mmix tape".
      • The background of The Metropolis prominently has a sign reading "Mm Blues" on the right side of the level, complete with the same pink font of their logo, as well as a partial graffiti of their logo on the left side.
    • Karting has a costume and kart based on the men in the logo of its developers United Front Games.
    • LBP3 introduced several costumes as free DLC that are inspired by the companies involved in its creation: a sumo wrestler (Sumo Digital), a tarsier (Tarsier Studios), and a station master (The Station).
  • Little Inferno is a game by Tomorrow Corporation about burning things in the Little Inferno Entertainment Fireplace, which is produced by the in-universe company also known as Tomorrow Corporation.
  • Mad Rat Dead: There are boxes in certain stages labeled "NIS.co.jp", referring to Nippon Ichi Software.
  • In Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, the logo of the FOX unit is the same as that of Kojima Productions.
  • Milon's Secret Castle has the bee icon of its developers Hudson Soft as a collectible powerup which grants Milon a shield.
  • Mina the Hollower: With the right combination of Side Arms and Trinkets, it's possible to reach a small island in the southwest corner of Loner's Landing with a breakable stump and some seagulls milling around. Destroying the stump reveals a geoglyph shaped like the Yacht Club Games logo and some buried bones.
  • Mortal Kombat 9: Billboards belonging to WB Games and NetherRealm Studios appear in the Subway stage.
  • In No Umbrellas Allowed, one of the items you can buy and sell is a neon sign with the logo of Hoochoo Game Studios.
  • Overwatch: D.Va's default outfit, her pink, white and blue pilot suit, boasts the logo of Overwatch creators Blizzard Entertainment on the right leg below the other (fictional) logos.
  • Pac-Man World 2:
    • The original game has 189 collectible tokens emblazoned with Namco's logo, which reward you with various unlockables as you find them.
    • The Gashapon machines in Re-PAC namedrop Bandai, seeing as they're based on the company's real-life machines.
  • Picross: Mario's Picross has a Time Trial mode with a high score table. Among the default initials on it are JUP (Jupiter Corporation) in 3rd, APE (Ape Inc.) in 2nd, and NIN (Nintendo) in 1st.
  • Pokémon:
    • The headquarters of Game Freak, the company that makes the Pokémon games, appears in several mainline titles. It's often loaded with Creator Cameos.
    • Pokémon Sword and Shield: The Game Freak logo appears on Leon's cape as one of his many sponsors.
  • The Atari 7800 port of Pole Position II has visible signs with Atari logos by the racetracks.
  • Przygody Reksia: Logo of Aidem Media is often seen as some element of background, for example on coins or on book in Storybook Opening of Wizards.
  • Psychonauts has the logo for Double Fine show up as a figment in the Meat Circus.
  • Throughout the Punch-Out!! series, Doc Louis has random tips telling Little Mac to join Nintendo's external services. In Mike Tyson's... and ...Featuring Mr. Dream, he says to join the Nintendo Fun Club; in the Wii Punch-Out!!, he begins to say "Nintendo Fun-", but since that program had been defunct for two decades by the game's 2009 release, Doc corrects himself to "Club Nintendo". In Doc Louis's Punch-Out!!, a game which was only available by getting a code from Club Nintendo, he thanks Mac for having joined the club.
  • Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo has a billboard you can click on that shows ads for various other Humongous Entertainment games; the last one makes it [Trope Name] by simply saying "Shameless Humongous Entertainment self-promotion to be placed here."
  • The Raskulls series likes to include Halfbrick Studios' logo in them:
    • In the original game, the King has a pile of literal half-bricks, which he often ties messages to and uses them as a means of delivering letters to his servants.
    • As a reference to the above, one of the attacks King has in the crossover game Battle Racing Stars is a Brick Throw, where he throws said bricks forward. After upgrading them to level 3 they start resembling Halfbrick's logo, though they're not cut in half like the actual logo is.
    • Magic Brick Wars: In the Mines sections of the game, a Halfbrick logo can be randomly found on the floor.
  • Ratchet & Clank:
    • A recurring bonus area is the Insomniac Museum, so named for Insomniac Games, which appears in Going Commando, Up Your Arsenal, A Crack in Time, and Ratchet & Clank (2016). In the first three games, the location's layout is based on the studio Insomniac worked in, and gives information and tidbits about the development of those games, including design choices, concepts, and Dummied Out or otherwise unused content. In the 2016 game, it's instead a warehouse that's host to a bunch of assets, props, pictures, and more from across the franchise's at-the-time 14-year history. In Up Your Arsenal and A Crack in Time, its planet model (and map icon, for the latter) are also based on the full moon that was Insomniac's logo at the time.
    • Going Commando and Up Your Arsenal have a video game console called the Insomniac Game Pyramid, based on Insomniac Games. As its name implies, it's a small pyramid with Insomniac's full moon logo on the sides. In the former game you can find it in Clank's Megapolis apartment, where you can use the Dynamo on it to play Sheep Invaders prior to unlocking the minigame in the Extras menu, or destroy it to get 1024 bolts. In the latter game it appears in the Insomniac Museum, where you can play the unused Vid-Comic and Vid-Comic 1 Special Edition on it.
    • In Going Commando and Up Your Arsenal, you can earn new paintjobs for Ratchet's Star Explorer by getting Skill Points. The last one you unlock is entitled "Insomniac Special", which is black with blue and silver accents and Insomniac Games' full moon logo on the nose and wings.
    • Ratchet & Clank: Size Matters and Secret Agent Clank were developed by High Impact Games rather than Insomniac. They have their own take on the Insomniac Museum called the High Impact Games Treehouse, based on the treehouse from their old logo.
    • The cutscene at the end of the first level of Quest for Booty very prominently features the moon of Insomniac's logo filling the role of the actual moon.
  • Rayman Legends: The unlockable Funky Ray and (in eighth-generation versions of the game) Champion Ray skins are variants of Rayman that have franchise creator Ubisoft's logo on his chest, replacing the white circle he usually has there.
  • Ridge Racer:
    • Game creator Namco has tons of billboards and car stickers depicting their company name.
    • Befitting its status as a Nintendo 64 game, Ridge Racer 64 sports logos for Nintendo on multiple courses.
  • The final stage of Rugrats: Search for Reptar, "Reptar 2010", has the logo of publisher THQ on one of the buildings, and it's possible to attack it just like the rest of the buildings - likely inspired by the episode of the cartoon with the same name having a building with Rugrats creator Viacom on it get destroyed by Reptar.
  • Scribblenauts: The last main constellation of Super Scribblenauts is the logo for the developers, Fifth Cell.
  • It's quite common for the Shin Megami Tensei series to have something show up with an Atlus branding on it; for example, Nocturne and Persona both have Atlus vending machines.
  • Shovel Knight:
    • In all four campaigns, Pridemoor Keep has an Offscreen Start Bonus with a treasure chest sitting under a ceiling. If you attack the ceiling, its tiles explode and reveal behind them an 8-bit rendition of Yacht Club Games' logo.
    • In versions of Shovel of Hope with the Battletoads, Croaker sneaks in a reference to their creators:
      Croaker: Face to face with the Battletoads! What a rare opportunity!
  • Played with in The Simpsons Game, where, to progress in the fifth level, Lisa has to put together a square, circle, and triangle in order, and the characters then comment that it looks like a corporation logo. The joke is that the game was developed by EA Games, and the logo is their earlier logo.
  • The Sims 2 has an in-universe game console named the Maxis Game Simulator, so named for the game's creators, Maxis.
  • Slopecrashers: Developer byteparrot's logo is snuck into several locations in the game:
    • There's a large skyscraper in Neon City with a neon byteparrot sign on the side. This can also be seen in the artwork "The Slopecrashers".
    • The TVs in the Pinball Bar in "Neon City - Tourism" have the parrot bouncing around on them like a DVD screensaver logo.
    • One of the unlockable skins for the Freestyle Glider has byteparrot's logo on it.
    • The unlockable baseball cap cosmetic sports the byteparrot logo in blue.
    • The "Quick Vacation" picture has the Penguin playing what appears to be a Game Boy with the parrot from byteparrot's logo on the cartridge.
  • Sly Cooper:
    • Sly Cooper and the Thievius Raccoonus:
      • The Spinning Paper that shows up in the cutscenes upon completing the first four worlds is "The Sucker Punch Daily", with their logo as part of the title. Right next to the title is "Est. 1997", the year Sucker Punch was founded.
      • The racetrack level "At the Dog Track" has a billboard with the logo of developers Sucker Punch right after the first turn.
    • In Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, Sanzaru Games' monkey head logo makes several appearances throughout the game, ranging from an insignia on Sly's backpack, to an unlockable Paraglider reskin, to the brand of a collectible branding iron treasure.
  • Some of the courses in Snowboard Kids have banners with the names of series producers Atlus and Racjin on them; Big Snowman, for example, has them both right at the finish line.
  • Sonic the Hedgehog:
  • SpongeBob SquarePants:
    • The original version of SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom has a few nods to its developers Heavy Iron Studios:
      • Their logo can be seen on a sign hanging from the building with the Coral Cola billboard in Downtown Rooftops.
      • The museum in Rock Bottom has a picture of part of the Heavy Iron Studios building, including a sign with their name on it.
    • The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie (THQ): "Shell City, Dead Ahead", has a giant golf club that serves as a platform. Looking at its head reveals it says "HEAVY IRON", as in game producers Heavy Iron Studios.
  • Spider-Man: Miles Morales: When Miles is steering Rhino through a mall at the beginning of the game, Rhino uses Insomniac Games' logo as a handhold when he jumps from one side of the mall to another. This happens around the same time that Miles asks him if he has any non-destructive hobbies.
  • SSX 3 has several appearances of the logo of its developers EA Sports BIG, such as on the front of every winners' podium, and on banners attached between the upper halfpipes in Perpendiculous.
  • Street Fighter 6's Macho Ring stage has banners with franchise creator Capcom's logo.
  • Super Kiwi 64: Some of the announcements placed in City 64 (the first level of the Doomsday campaign) feature the logo of Siactro, the developers of the game.
  • Super Mario Bros.:
    • Super Mario Bros. Special, developed by Hudson Soft, has the bee that serves as the company's mascot appear in World 1-1 as a collectible item, which awards 8000 points.
    • Several Mario Kart titles feature advertisements for Nintendo on tracks, particularly in stadiums that make sense to have advertisements in them. Mario Kart 64's renditions of Luigi Circuit and Mario Circuit and the Luigi Circuit in Mario Kart: Double Dash!! are but a handful of examples.
    • Mario Party:
      • The minigame "Slot Car Derby" from the first Mario Party 1 has a billboard with Nintendo's logo on it. Only this game's version does; later reapperances of this minigame have a different aesthetic and no Nintendo signs.
      • The Mario Party 4 minigame "GOOOOOOOAL!!" is set in a soccer stadium. There are advertisements bearing logos on both sides of the stadium wall behind the net: the left side has Mario Party developers Hudson Soft, while the right side has Mario creators Nintendo. Nintendo's logo also changes between regions — blue in the Japanese version of the game, red elsewhere.
    • In Mario Superstar Baseball, Mario Stadium prominently features Nintendo's logo on the girders behind the foul lines. As in some other instances, the logo is blue in the Japanese version, and red internationally.
    • Luigi's Mansion 3: Floor 11 of The Last Resort has three ghosts as the boss. In many languages, their names start with the same letters as the game's developers, Next Level Games — among others, they're Nikki, Lindsey, and Ginny in English and French; Nova, Luz, and Gala in Spanish; and Nina, Loes and Guusje in Dutch.
    • Wario Land 4: The news article read by the black cat at the beginning of the game is from a newspaper named "The Nintendo News".
    • In Yoshi's Story, the levels "Jelly Pipe" and "Torrential Maze" have newspaper clippings making up the background. In addition to the several Company Cross-References that they contain, such as the names of Wario, Zelda, and Pikachu, you can also spot Nintendo's name in them.
  • In Sticky Business, Spellgarden Games' logo appears on the upper-left corner of the protagonist's browser.
  • Super Monkey Ball:
    • The first game has a stage that's the logo of Sega, laid out horizontally so that your monkey rolls around on the "front" of the letters.
    • 2 has a level where the website URL for Amusement Vision, the division of Sega that produced the series, is on a wall that pops out and can push you off the level.
  • Super Smash Bros. Melee: Oddly, the texture for Roy's sword has HAL LABRATORY.INC [sic] written on it.
  • Among the many documents in The Talos Principle, one of them, Progress rep3.eml, is an email detailing the creation of the simulation that makes up the game you're playing (out-of-universe). Part of the email has been corrupted, but if you translate the hex code making up the corruption, it reads that the simulation is built on "the Serious Engine 7.5, which Croteam have kindly made available to us". Croteam is, of course, the company that made The Talos Principle.
  • Round 29 of Tank Force has red walls in the center that are made to resemble Namco's logo.
  • Tony Hawk's Pro Skater:
    • In general, it's not uncommon to find random halfpipes, quarterpipes and kickers with Neversoft stickers on them.
    • Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4:
      • One of the NPCs is outright named "Neversoft Skater", and boasts their logo on his shirt.
      • The museum in London has banners with Neversoft's name on them hanging out front.
      • The Zoo stage has a Neversoft banner in the area with the birds.
      • Carnival has a gap named "Almost Never Soft".
      • Chicago has posters with Neversoft's name on one of the buildings.
    • In the first Tony Hawk's Underground, the Slam City Jam stadium has banners with the logo of Neversoft among the various other real-life companies adorning the fences and walls.
    • In Underground 2, the chainsaw used for a prank near the beginning of the game has Neversoft's logo on it.
    • Tony Hawk's Project 8:
      • The Capitol area has a shipping crate with Neversoft's name on it in a fenced-off area at the edge of the map near the water.
      • The currency, Stokens, is more-or-less just a recreation of Neversoft's iconic impaled eyeball symbol.
    • In Proving Ground, the bridge under construction has a Neversoft billboard near it.
    • In Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4, the label on the wall at the start of Pinball has developer Iron Galaxy's name at the top of it.
  • Tower of Fantasy: Hotta Studio's logo is usually splashed on screens around Aesperia. They also have an in-universe version of their studio located in Mirroria City beside the Oasis Club, and the player character can join them as a temporary worker helping the overworked employees in designing boss monsters before the deadline.
  • Um Jammer Lammy: The Banana Peel that Lammy slips on in the JP/EU Stage 6 intro has a sticker with game developer NanaOn-Sha's name and logo on it.
  • Uncharted throws out a few references to its creators Naughty Dog:
    • In a broad sense, the protagonist of the series nods to them via sharing their initials: Nathan Drake.
    • Uncharted: Drake's Fortune has "Naughty Dog Drake" as one of the very first unlockables, which gives Nate a shirt with said company's logo on it.
    • Uncharted 4: A Thief's End references them in the game's epilogue:
      • You can have Cassie hold and look at the case for the original Crash Bandicoot, which has their logo on it.
      • The license on Nate's truck is "ND1984"; Naughty Dog was originally founded as Jam Software in 1984.
  • Unreal Tournament: The ceiling of the team flag bases in the map CTF-Orbital, from the Game of The Year Edition and the DE Bonus Pack features the logo of Digital Extremes.
  • Valis III has three different publisher-specific cameos in the same game. The first boss fight in the game is done against the backdrop of a neon sign bearing a logo. In the TurboGrafx-16 version, it's NEC; in the later Nintendo Switch compilation, the same sign is editted to read Edia Smart Media Company; finally, in the Sega Genesis version, it's "Reno", short for Renovation, Telenet Japan's NA publishing arm.
  • The Tri-Emblem is found in many of tri-Ace's games, such as Valkyrie Profile and the Star Ocean series. It's shaped like their logo and is usually the most powerful accessory in the game.
  • Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines: A non-sequitur in the Dialogue Tree near the endgame lets you ask your ally Mercurio about Troika Games, the developer. Mercurio name-drops the founders and implies that they might soon be Killed to Uphold the Masquerade.
  • Virtua Fighter 5: The Sega AM2 logo makes an appearance on the floor of the Training Stage.
  • In Warframe, you can find the logo of Digital Extremes hidden in each friendly town you can visit, which you can interact with to show an amateur-styled staff roll.
  • Wii Sports: Nintendo logos are displayed on advertisements and decorations around the various sporting arenas.
  • Three for PlatinumGames in The Wonderful 101:
    • Each non-boss level has five Platinum Coins which have Platinum's logo on them. Find all five and you'll get an item.
    • The supercomputer that controls the forcefield protecting Earth, Mother Platinum, is stylized after the star in Platinum's logo.
    • Finally, after completing the game, a special Unite Morph called Platinum Forever is unlocked, which, when used, turns the team into Platinum's logo and fires a giant beam at the foes.
  • Zombie Night Terror: Game developer NoClip's name makes recurring appearances on building signs and wall graffiti in the levels' various background environments.
  • In the DSi version of Zuma's Revenge!, PopCap Games' logo appears at the very bottom of the Achievements menu in the Tiki Temple.

    Web Animation 
  • The Mighty Grand Piton: The logo of THE LINE Animation appears when Grand Piton is fighting a giant bug at an airport... As the logo of an airline, reading THE Air LINE.

    Web Videos 
  • Epic Rap Battles of History: Near the end of "Jim Henson vs. Stan Lee," Walt Disney, representing the Disney brand, pops up to do a verse bragging about how much his company owns, including the ERBOH series itself. When Disney shows Henson and Lee his "empire of joy," one of the logos depicted is that of Maker Studios, the Disney-owned subsidiary that produced ERBOH at the time, with the ERBOH logo right below it.
    Disney: I'm owning this battle! In fact, I own this whole series!
  • Let's Play Pokémon White (MageKnight404): When Hilda visits the Game Freak building in Castelia City, she wonders if they've made a game based on Unova. Ray quickly changes the topic.

    Western Animation 
  • The Amazing World of Gumball episode "The Shippening" is about Sarah finding a magic notebook that makes any stories written into it become a reality, and using it to ship everyone in Elmore with each other. Said notebook has the logo of the show's production company and broadcast channel, Cartoon Network, on the front cover in gold, implying it's used to write episodes of the show.
  • American Dad!: "Blagsnarst: A Love Story", the final episode to air on Fox Network before the show moved to TBS, ends with Stan reading aloud from a book labelled "American Dad! on Fox" and then putting the book on a shelf once he's finished.
  • Animaniacs centers on Warner Bros. characters who live/work on the studio lot; the main characters Yakko, Wakko, and Dot Warner regularly introduce themselves as the Warner Brothers (and the Warner Sister).
  • Even putting its numerous fourth wall breaks aside, Big Mouth often references its host service Netflix. Sometimes it's in a positive context (like in "Pillow Talk," when Nick sobs over his parents grounding him from watching Netflix), sometimes it's more negative (like in "How To Have an Orgasm" when Maury makes fun of the 13 Reasons Why backlash), and sometimes it's a mix of both (Nick gushing about Netflix to Gina in "The Shame Wizard," only for the scene to cut out when he offers to share his password).
  • In the final episode of the Netflix show BoJack Horseman, a newspaper cover is briefly shown reviewing a show on "Nextflix" that has "too many giraffe jokes." May also double as Self-Deprecation about BoJack frequently using animal puns for comedy.
  • Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix:
    • One of the people scanned by Captain Laserhawk in episode 3 is named Bob Pills, a reference to studio Bobbypills, this series' creators.
    • The Universal Basic Income, or UBI, is a clear nod to Ubisoft, whose IPs the series is based on.
  • In the Chowder episode "Gazpacho Stands Up", Cartoon Network's channel logo is acknowledged in-universe when Gazpacho wipes Chowder's handwriting off the screen. Chowder asks if he can get the logo off of the screen too, only for Gazpacho to point at it and say that it doesn't come off; the channel's at-the-time logo was actually drawn into the scene for this joke.
  • Craig of the Creek: In the Musical Episode "In the Key of the Creek", during the song "The Creek is Everywhere", one of the real-life photos that flashes by in the background is one of Cartoon Network's headquarters in Burbank.
  • In the Paramount-produced show Duckman, the episode "Inherit the Judgement: The Dope's Trial" has Duckman reveal that he won his court case because a higher power was on his side. The camera pans to an animated Paramount logo, complete with fanfare. It can be seen here.
  • Ed, Edd n Eddy: In "Urban Ed", the anvil that Ed drops has "AKA" written on the side in reference to AKA Cartoon, the show's producer.
  • Family Guy: Frequent references are made to the network the show used to air on, Fox, with the characters mentioning Fox's influence on the show and even having Fox executives and employees occasionally make appearances in the series. One such example, used as a Take That!, is Peter bringing up Fox canceling their show before rattling off a list of nearly three dozen other shows that Fox Network ran and also canceled before un-canceling Family Guy.
  • Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law: A minor Running Gag is that whenever conglomerates are mentioned, a small business sign is displayed with the line "An AOL Time Warner Co".
  • Looney Tunes: One of the franchise's hallmarks is that the characters know what studio they work for.
  • Mr. Bean: The Animated Series: In "Wanted", shortly after Mr. Bean incorrectly gets sent to jail (due to a similar-looking escaped convict who takes refuge in Bean's flat), one inmate mentions that he really wants to get sent to Varga. Varga is the animation studio that provides the overseas animation for the first season.
  • My Dad the Bounty Hunter: In the second episode, Grandma falls asleep while watching Netflix, the streamer that produces the show.
  • OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes: The titular character keeps his Hero cards in a binder with the sticker of the Cartoon Network logo.
  • An episode of The Proud Family does this with a fly, using the logo for Jambalaya Studio.
  • In the Rugrats episode "Reptar 2010", Reptar is seen destroying a building labeled Viacom, which was the company that owned Nickelodeon at the time.
  • The Simpsons pokes fun at the FOX network quite frequently, with examples such as Homer having an Oh, Crap! reaction after accidentally investing in FOX's stocks, or Krusty saying that they're "known for taking chances on crap!". One of the more innocuous jokes involves the family living in the outlands and watching a literal fox sleeping on a rock. Another jab at Fox in the episode When You Dish Upon A Star wound up predicting Fox's sale to Disney decades before it happened, with the Fox logo being labeled "A Division of Walt Disney Co".
  • All the Spliced episodes' title cards state that the show is "Now in Nelvanamation", a Portmanteau of "animation" and "Nelvana," the latter being Spliced's production company.
  • SpongeBob SquarePants: In "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy III", the International Justice League of Super Acquaintances is introduced as "a subsidiary of Viacom"; Viacom being the company that owned Nickelodeon at the time.
  • One episode of Steven Universe has Steven and Greg stop by the animation studio in Korea where the show is made. When Greg catches sight of his own model sheet, complete with the clothes he’s currently wearing, he hurriedly ushers Steven away.

 
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In case you didn't know this game was made by Level 5, FBY Agent Mulder places extra emphasis on how this is a Level 5 case, with big text to boot.

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