Sony changed their direction in marketing last month by moving away from the “It Only Does Everything” campaign to what is known as “Long Live Play”. Its debut launched with an emotional ad campaign featuring dozens of popular gaming characters, and very quickly became viral. Not only was is extremely well-received by many, but some have even called it the most moving video game commercial in history. While that’s debatable, its popularity isn’t now that it has a footprint reaching millions of people.
After less than a month of publicity, Sony’s first Long Live Play commercial has already accrued a total nearing 10 million views on YouTube alone, with hundreds of thousands if not millions more unaccounted for on other video hosting sites. In addition to this, the commercial has been run during Monday Night Football among other high viewership television shows.
The commercial is mysterious, but conveys a very important message that Sony has been trying to say for years now with very little success. The real-life use of characters along with their corresponding voice actors has set it apart from what we’ve seen before, and the list isn’t small either. The following were shown during the commercial (and there are several more):
- Sweet Tooth (Twisted Metal)
- Metal Gear Mk. II (Metal Gear Solid)
- Parappa the Rapper
- Lightning (Final Fantasy)
- Nathan Drake (Uncharted)
- Isaac Clarke (Dead Space)
- Old Snake (Metal Gear Solid)
- Chell (Portal)
- Sackboy (LittleBigPlanet)
- Kratos (God of War)
- Rico (Killzone)
- Paul Phoenix (Tekken)
- Little Sister (Bioshock)
- Ezio Auditore (Assassin’s Creed)
- Hybrid Chimera (Resistance)
With so many recognizable characters, just about everyone had something to be excited about when watching the commercial. Sony has hit a home run with their first Long Live Play commercial, and there will surely be more to follow. The holiday season is quickly approaching, and along with several key titles such as Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception and a $249 price tag for the PS3, Sony is marching into the future with some serious firepower.
