High Five: The Immersive Narrative of Video Games

Video games are the most immersive art form we have, and this spot successfully conveys the power that this immersive medium unlocks: the ability to transcend. In the 2000s, gaming defaulted to technical specs to appeal to audiences. Instead of going with the common approach, Playstation centred the campaign on the human impact that Playstation - and video games at large - have. It was the first authentic and spot-on representation of both the power of the medium, and what drives people of all types to play.

Responsible for launching the 'Gears of War' franchise, the spot features the series protagonist facing off against, what I would at first call, giant bug monsters. But instead of going with a heavy metal or rap rock (I see you, Linkin Park), they went with… Gary Jules' version of 'Mad World'? This artistic choice immediately conveyed not only the action based nature of the title, but the overall nature and tone of the game and setting. It was also a departure from the in-your-face nature of video game spots at the time, giving a glimpse to the future cinematic nature that gaming would take.

The original 'Halo' single-handedly saved the Xbox and ushered in the next era of gaming and console wars. So, how do you start drumming up your fandom for the follow-up? Send your fans to a bee enthusiast website of course. An ARG that engaged players globally, it drove the core and general fans to become evangelists of the series. The culmination of the ARG was players being invited to play the actual game in movie theatres before it launched. And in a period before streaming codes and digital copies, giving players the opportunity to play a console-defining series in a format like movie theatres was, at the time, a dream gaming session (and still is).

Based on fan-favourite characters and voiced by actual K-Pop stars, K/DA was able to leverage the global popularity of gaming and K/Pop music to honour long-time fans and introduce IP to brand new audiences, without alienating either. The marketing holy grail. Gaming and music go together like, well gaming and music. Riot Games has always understood this connection, making music a central component to all their experiences, in-game or out, digital or physical. This dedication to the game and their audience led to real-world success with K/DA charting #1 on Billboard’s global digital sales chart - only the fifth women-based group to do so.

At this point in time, console competition more resembled an eight-man royal rumble than a 'war'. This fully-fledged campaign was Sega’s direct call out of Nintendo and was the beginning of 'edgy' game marketing. Part of the edginess was Sega staking an 'older' audience for their games, most notably shown by 'Mortal Kombat' on Sega having blood, while 'Mortal Kombat' on Nintendo did not. This distinction allowed Sega to be “not for babies”, as a childhood neighbour would put it. This stark differentiation and choice to be for a 'specific' audience allowed Sega to establish a foothold and steal an audience from Nintendo.