PlayStation 5. Xbox Series X. The next generation of video game consoles is here, and with it, a stark reminder of why advertisers need to communicate the right message to the right people at the right time.
Video game advertising is some of the most fascinating advertising you will ever see. From Sega’s classic “Genesis Does What Nintendon’t” commercial to Sony’s 1996 “Nintendo Headquarters” ad in which PlayStation mascot Crash Bandicoot taunts Mario through a bullhorn outside of Nintendo HQ, video game advertising has always been on the cutting edge.
Now that Sony and Microsoft have launched their latest and greatest PlayStation and Xbox game consoles, let’s see how their ads stack up — starting with Sony, the video game market leader.
Sony’s PlayStation 5 TV commercial, “The Edge”
This 60-second spot starts smart with the PlayStation logo and familiar (to gamers) PlayStation “clang” tone — a Pavlovian audio cue that Sony has used for years at the start of its PlayStation commercials.
A man is piloting his rickety fishing boat as a wall of luminous sea water coalesces in front of him and the opening strains of The Who’s “Baba O’Riley” begin to play.
Suddenly, out of the fog, a fleet of ships appears behind the boat. We see glorious CGI pirate ships, Viking ships, blimps, fighter planes — even alien spacecraft.
A quiet falls. The man looks around, confused, and then he realizes: The armada is waiting.
They are waiting for him.
With a rallying cry, the man hits the throttle, his little boat leading the charge through the water-wall and into what lies beyond.
We see the tagline, “Play has no limits,” followed by the PlayStation wordmark and another familiar audio cue that sounds like cute Japanese robots saying “Play-Sta-tion.”
Below: Sony’s PlayStation 5 console launch commercial, “The Edge.”
For sure, this ad is artsy and “out there.” People unfamiliar with video games are likely to be baffled. But to millions of hardcore gamers — Sony’s target market for new console launches like the PS5’s — this spot is a gorgeous and exhilarating metaphor for the hobby they love.
The message: PlayStation empowers you and your imagination to go places you’ve never gone before.
The ad doesn’t even mention Sony’s new console — and it doesn’t have to. Gamers know PS5 is coming. So dominant is PlayStation in mindshare that a simple upload of the PS5 logo in January became the most popular gaming-related post ever on Instagram, generating more than 5 million likes from rabid fans. (In contrast, Microsoft’s Xbox Series X announcement trailer — which in dramatic fashion revealed the new console and controller designs — mustered only 1.8 million views.)
Related reading: How video games made me a marketing copywriter
Now, the question: Is this ad any good?
No doubt, it breaks a ton of rules: It doesn’t show the product. There are no features or benefits. We don’t even see the PS5 logo. And yet, this ad works because it’s exactly the kind of message its audience of early adopters loves and clamors to see.
Ad rating: 4 stars out of 5.
Microsoft’s Xbox TV commercial, “Us Dreamers”
Not wanting to be outdone, Xbox has delivered a spot called “Us Dreamers.” It’s another high-production CGI affair created to inspire wonder and awe.
Like Sony’s ad, the spot starts with the Xbox logo and boot-up chime to grab gamers’ attention. Actor Daniel Kaluuya (known for his film roles in Black Panther and Get Out) sits down to play a video game. As he dons his headset, he is swept away to incredible worlds to a soundtrack of “No Ordinary” by Labrinth.
First he is dropped into a sea battle in ninth-century England, the setting for Ubisoft Montreal‘s latest action-adventure game, Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla.
Then it’s off to space, where we see Master Chief, the iconic hero of Xbox’s Halo series of games. (Forget for a moment that Microsoft has botched the development of its latest Halo game so badly that it will miss the entire console launch window and more.)
Finally, the player is transported to a futuristic city. “Wherever shall we begin?” asks a female voice that sounds like Cortana, Master Chief’s AI partner in Halo. We see the new hardware. “Power your dreams,” reads the on-screen tagline. “Introducing the all-new Xbox Series S | Series X.”
The Xbox logo and chime again.
Finé.
Below: Microsoft’s Xbox console launch commercial, “Us Dreamers.”
Certainly, the similarities between this Xbox commercial and Sony’s “The Edge” are striking — from the big-budget CGI and Viking ships to the idea of a fantastic journey, right down to the identically-positioned logos in the bottom-right corner of the frame.
So why, then, is this Xbox ad not nearly as effective as PlayStation’s?
The answer is market position. PlayStation is far and away the video game market leader. Since 2013, Sony has sold more than 110 million PS4 consoles and outsold its Xbox competitor by a ratio of about 2 to 1 worldwide.
The simple fact is, different market positions require different messaging. For Xbox, it’s not enough to run ads that mimic PlayStation’s. Especially now, at the start of a new console generation when the big players typically have their best chance of “resetting” their market shares, Xbox needs to pull out all the stops if it hopes to peel fans away from PlayStation.
What could this Xbox ad have done better?
The creators of this ad left several bullets in the chamber.
While Xbox is currently outgunned as far as blockbuster, console-exclusive games, Microsoft does have Game Pass, a Netflix-style subscription service that gives players access to 100+ games for a low monthly fee. Xbox is also home to the best backward-compatibility tech in the industry, which allows gamers to play hundreds of titles spanning all four generations of Xbox hardware back to 2001.
And then there is price. Like Sony, Microsoft has entered the next generation with two new machines. Xbox Series X is focused on power and costs the same as PlayStation 5 ($499). But Series S, a disc-less, lower-spec machine aimed at more casual gamers who have not yet upgraded to 4K displays, costs just $299 — a hundred bucks less than Sony’s disc-less PS5.
Not only does the Series S console give price-conscious consumers an affordable way to play next-generation games, but it could entice PlayStation gamers who don’t want to pay a premium to play Fortnite or Minecraft.
Why do none of these messages appear in this ad? At more than a minute in length, it’s not for lack of time.
This ad fails because it doesn’t communicate the messages its audience needs to hear.
It’s a huge missed opportunity to tell gamers why they should buy an Xbox instead of a PlayStation.
Is that worth the loss of two stars in a Cranky ad review? Yes — and a lot of market share as well.
Ad rating: 2 stars out of 5.
Sony’s PlayStation 5 TV commercial, “Breathtaking Immersion”
Having made a big splash with its PS5 announcement commercial, Sony is now ready to show the games.
In this 30-second spot, “Breathtaking Immersion,” the company takes PS5 messaging to the next level with gameplay graphics and call-outs of the new console’s features.
Below: A more game-centric PlayStation 5 commercial, “Breathtaking Immersion.”
Interspersed between snippets of gameplay, on-screen text teases “stunning visuals,” “travel worlds at lightning speed” (a reference to the console’s super-fast solid-state hard drive), “feel more with haptic feedback,” “feel force with adaptive triggers,” and “see with sound with 3D audio.”
Besides looking gorgeous, it’s everything a video game advertisement needs to be.
Ad rating: 5 stars out of 5.
Do you have a favorite video game commercial? What do you think of these new ads for PS5 and Xbox? Share your comments below.
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This is the other – this ad tells you exactly what you are in for – you will make all the hard decisions. The ad has the dramatic voice over, tells you what the story might be without giving out too much, and you see the spectacular game design. Many people when they think of video games do not realize how far video games have come. Watching my husband play this game (and even playing some of it myself) I became tremendously attached to the characters. And when I saw this commercial, I knew I would be part of something special.
Yup! Great game and great ad! There’s a reason I’ve always said video game advertising is some of the best out there. This is one example.
Thanks for writing.
Being a huge non-gamer and yet WINNING in all ways possible on my Little Big Planet, this commercial touched my heart in all kinds of special ways – it made me anticipate for more fun gameplay with everything it showed the new game has (even though a lot of the mechanics are way beyond my basic skills) and the music (which I love to this day) and looking back at this commercial it made me want to play LBP2. So this is the first favorite I thought of.