The resistance against the AI art apocalypse is being televised in a marketing campaign about burgers.

Over the past year, Wendy’s — yes, the same Wendy’s known for its square burgers, thick milkshakes, and unlikely stewardship of a mid-tier donut chain — has made waves through a series of unconventional creative partnerships. Amid slumps in sales and attention, Wendy’s has turned to popular artistic mediums, like music and video games, to try and reverse course.

The buzziest Wendy’s-affiliated project was the post-hardcore EP Songs to Listen to in a Wendy’s Parking Lot, which featured six tracks written by musicians from bands with legit emo cred, like Anberlin, Blessthefall, Silverstein, and Winona Fighter. Look, I am as sorry as you are to hand anything to Big Corporate, but all six tracks are straight bangers. (Just listen to “She Said She Didn’t Want Fries” and try to tell me you didn’t have that on repeat in a Wendy’s parking lot in 2008.) On the heels of that album release is the classic JRPG riff WendyQuest: Legend of the Four Corner Stones. Like Songs to Listen to, it boasts a similar unmistakable authenticity.

“Wendy’s should not have a game that’s this good,” Stephane Cotichini, founder and game director at 81Monkeys, the studio behind WendyQuest , told Polygon in a video call. (For the record, 81Monkeys was not named after the viral 2025 news story about meth dealers attempting to smuggle 81 monkeys across the Thailand-Cambodia border. Pure coincidence.

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