Konami recently revealed more gameplay details for Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, much to the delight of fans. Less enthusiastically received by fans are in-game product placements for Pepsi beverages, Uniqlo apparel, Doritos chips, Axe deodorant, and Sony Walkman music players. This situation has prompted a response from Metal Gear creator Hideo Kojima.
"Regarding the collaborations, I have one reason for doing them,” wrote Kojima via Twitter [thanks Andriasang.] “It's because I want to surprise the players. If the surprise and freshness were lost, I would stop the collaborations. It's different from Hollywood-style merchandizing."
Metal Gear, brought to you by Mountain Dew.
Metal Gear Solid 4, it should be noted, had extensive in-game advertising for the Apple iPod, ReGain Energy Drinks, Sony Ericson mobile phones and Triumph motorcycles.
3 Comments
April 9, 2010
MGS3 had product placement as well:
http://crumaharashop.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/snake_calorie.jpg
April 9, 2010
Hi, Its like the Monster Hunter tie-in was a huge surprise, but if you were surprised by the other tie-ins, you probably weren't around for Metal Gear Solid 4. Konami staged similar promotions for that game, although often with different brand loyalties.
m3 ds
April 12, 2010
Touche Alexander, I wasn't aware of that. Certainly though, the product placement in MGS4 and Peace Walker are much more extensive and noticeable.