News of Spiderman swinging through New York City, new weapons that turn a man into a shrub and a spaceship crash landing on an alien world. These are but a few of the fantastical news stories that make up Sony Interactive Entertainment’s new PlayStation campaign, ‘Live from PS5’.

The campaign, which has been created with the help of adam&eveDDB, has been designed to showcase the adventures that await audiences in some of the best games available on PS5.

The spot takes the form of a Playstation news broadcast and sees well-known game stories and characters placed into the real world, bringing its vast catalogue of games to life. The broadcast starts with a stereotypical newsroom scene with a presenter announcing, ‘this is live from PS5’ and maintains the conventions of a classic news show throughout. The only difference being that the news in this universe is far more magical, of superheroes and supervillains, aliens and monsters.

To create the different news items the team created elaborate sets; a forest full of snow, a futuristic swamp, and a classic New York City block; enlisting the help of 50+ visual effects artists, 23 actors, 58 extras, and three villains.

The power of gaming

Famously the gaming genre is now bigger than music and film combined and continues to grow. During lockdown time spent gaming increased rapidly and this is a trend that has continued to stick even after lockdowns lifted. 

Games have the ability to engage with audiences on a much deeper level and this campaign aims to bring to life the idea that games have the ability to transport the audience into new worlds filled with adventure, action, and memorable moments. Audiences have a close connection to the games they play, the success of NowTV series, The Last of Us is but one example of how the legacy of games can extend further into media and provide greater opportunities for marketers.

With PS5 set to release a range of hotly anticipated games this year such as Assassin’s Creed Mirage, Final Fantasy XVI, Hogwarts Legacy, Marvel’s Spider-Man 2, Resident Evil 4: Remake and Street Fighter 6, the opportunities in the sector and its ability to engage audiences grow.