Finally, Someone Wants To Hear About Your Video Game Exploits
It can be hard for a guy to see his girlfriend not appreciate his impressive Call of Duty killstreak. Or for a girl gamer to be embarrassed to tell her friends that she beat the latest Assassin's Creed in one weekend. In general, telling someone about your virtual achievements is one of the most boring conversations the person at the other end will ever have.
But now, Sony is here to help.
With the launch of their First to Greatness campaign, premiering today, PlayStation 4 gamers of all skill levels can compete to be immortalized on the promotion's website, as well as in an upcoming commercial modeled after the successful "Perfect Day" ad. Players will use the PS4's much-hyped share feature to submit videos of them doing things as simple as getting the first quick game win in NBA2K14, or as difficult as unlocking the Platinum Trophy in Killzone: Shadow Fall.
Here's the ad explaining how it works:
BBH New York developed "First to Greatness" with Sony as the culmination of the PS4's "Greatness Awaits" launch campaign, which began in June to build hype for the November release. Sony sold one million consoles in the PS4's opening weekend.
The "Greatness Awaits" campaign marks an important return to targeting hardcore gamers. As the video game industry matured (think the PS2 to PS4, along with their competitors), Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo tried different promotions aimed at everyone in the gaming spectrum. No one knew if the future of the industry lay in the hands of casual gamers playing a few popular games every year, or with gamers who dedicated massive chunks of their life to the gaming system they swore allegiance to.
BBH and Sony wanted the PS4 to be for the player who grew up with the PlayStation brand, and was unashamed of geeking out over battles with aliens and adventures with pirates. Earlier this year, "Bid for Greatness" allowed PS3 and handheld PSVita players to use very difficult and time-consuming achievements as a currency to bid for props featured in June's PS4 commercial.
"The gaming community seemed excited, but it was definitely awarding the greatest gamers out there, people with ungodly trophy accounts," BBH executive creative director Ari Weiss told AdAge. "First to Greatness" is meant to take that social element and expand it to gamers ranging from novices to experts.
Gamers can compete to be the first in 64 achievements beginning today, which is also the day Microsoft launches the Xbox One.