Sony is in the process of effectively relaunching the PS5, promising that the system will be much easier to find moving forwards. To mark the occasion, it’s dipping deep into its marketing budget – and bringing some of its biggest brands into the real world. In the case of the UK’s capital, that means it’s installed Kratos’ Leviathan Axe along London’s Southbank – to admittedly impressive effect!
The dramatic display – which plays into the company’s new Live from PS5 marketing campaign – sees a PS5-branded police cordon blocking off the enormous weapon, which is surrounded by cracks and ice. The press release mentions there’ll be other similar displays installed around the world, and we’ll bring you news on those as they break.
In the meantime, if you happen to be near London’s Southbank and want to check out the Leviathan Axe from God of War Ragnarok, note that it’ll only be on display on 30th January and 31st January before being removed. The platform holder said: “[This is] a celebration of the PS5 community, [and] it also reflects the increased availability of PS5 consoles in markets across the globe.”
If you’ve been searching for Sony’s system for some time, sounds like now is the time to snag one.
Comments 31
So cool! Love it when Sony's marketing team goes mental like this!
Wondered why it took you awhile to write this article, presumably you were trying to think of a good pun?
@AdamNovice I think I've reused that "axe" pun about 25 times now, so no.
Why the hell are they doing this and no marketing for PSVR2? Everyone knows what a PS5 is. No need for extra marketing until Christmas. You’d be forgiven for not even knowing that PSVR2 is launching in just a few weeks!
Going to pop over after work and take a look...
@thefourfoldroot1 Because they're focused on selling PSVR2 to enthusiasts who've already got a PS5 first. You can't even get PSVR2 from Amazon, etc yet.
They'll move more mainstream with PSVR2 later on.
Everyone who wants PSVR2 day one knows it's coming out soon.
You know what would be the best marketing? Giving us a showcase, come on Sony announce one this week
I wonder what they'll do with the axe once the display is down?
Be cool to auction it for charity, imagine having that in your back garden!
Nathan Drake: There was an idea...
Aloy: To bring together a group of remarkable people...
Jin Sakai: To see if we could become something more...
Deacon St John: So when they needed us...
Kratos: We could fight the battles...
Ellie: That they never could...
That should've been in the collectors edition. Hahaha
@get2sammyb yep and my PSVR2 preorder is in. This axe looks seriously cool, just a shame I'm nowhere near London but it's great to see that PS5 is readily available at last
A not to scale fail?
@thefourfoldroot1 you need a ps5 to play vr2, gotta get them numbers up.
VR is still super niche. sadly as good as VR2 is technically, its not in a place to go mainstream yet. probably due to several reasons
@get2sammyb Do you know why?
I am from a different region and I preordered mine through Amazon.
@JustPlainLoco Deacon St John 😂
That gave me a good laugh, thank you. I imagine he is there party crashing dressed as Spidey or a Lombax? 😁
@get2sammyb Super Bowl is in two weeks... Splash the cash Sony 😁😁 or this is perhaps the preemptive strike on Xbox running a 30 second Super Bowl ad. Either way, I do love some good old fashioned Sony marketing. I'm a sucker for it
@Ravix I think Zelda is the main thing given BotW stole the spotlight in 2017. February Nintendo Direct is a common thing nowadays and unless TotK is delayed again, that Direct would most likely be the start of the game's massive marketing cycle.
@Dr-M I think they increasingly want to control sales of hardware themselves. A bit like how Apple does.
Shame the axe isn't firmly embedded into parliament with those scumbags in there!
That's so cool. As someone that lives in a rural area, I don't get to see neat video game stuff like this. Maybe one day.
@thefourfoldroot1 VR is like 5% niche of the total console market which is itself like 10% of the total video games market. I doubt they will ever do a big budget mainstream advertising campaign for VR. Even if VR2 sells 4x what VR1 did it's STILL super niche. Granted, Meta was running a lot of ads last year, but Meta was planning that the entire company would be the center of the future VR-based metaverse for all business and commerce at that point, still.
I imagine at best, VR will get advertising in the PS store, and little brochures in the boxes of other accessories. Maybe a demo/ad kiosk at "select retail partners."
@get2sammyb "I think they increasingly want to control sales of hardware themselves. A bit like how Apple does."
That's pretty obnoxious actually. Though even Apple is more available at Amazon than PS, really. I know it's partly about scalper control, but it's also about price control/price fixing. And profiting off skipping wholesale pricing with retailers. Kinda weird to think of PS going mostly Direct 2 Customer while MS and Nintendo are flooding shelves.
I do wish they'd not have "limit 1 per household" though when they control new products, should at least be a reasonable, realistic number for households with multiple people that play. To MS's credit, they did more on that front with the early "invite" type direct sales. Limit 2 or 3 seems fair, but households with multiple people that want to play games at the same time doesn't seem odd outside Japan where 1 TV per house is still normal. IDK if it's "one lifetime purchase" or if it resets after a time, or what...
Also wish they'd have a more transparent "invite" system. I've received multiple "invites" from MS even though I already had my hardware. I've received none from Sony, even for VR after signing up, even though they never sold out, and even though I've probably bought more PS hardware over the years than anyone but Cerny and Yoshida.
@NEStalgia
That surely just means advertising is significantly more impactful for VR than for a normal product with significant market recognition already? The millions they spent on the thing, and the huge potential to revolutionise entertainment, and they fall at the final and relatively cheap hurdle of marketing 🤷♂️ baffling.
Just visited the Axe outside my office and kinda cool. Would have been great to have seen more but nice PR exerciser from Sony.
@thefourfoldroot1 I'm not sure the heavy marketing moved the needle for Meta on VR. And honestly marketing VR can do more harm than good, as the Occulus ads made VR look stereotypically ridiculous showing people in their helmets moving around like idiots, and the "social" attempt at marketing of two friends in neighboring apartments playing against each other and complaining about the noise from the person next door, having no idea the person they were in VR with was 20 feet away from them through the wall only served to make VR seem even dumber.
Yeah, that was bad marketing, but, that's where we are on VR marketing, while Apple's rumored headset and the new Occulus 3 will highlight the AR aspects over VR.
I kind of think it's better to market the concept than the reality of showing people looking like they're schitzo flailing round looking at nothing in a visor that looks like a prop from Tron. But that, too, is hard to market.
TBH I don't think there is a good way to mass-market VR. I think it's only going to happen slowly and organically through word of mouth and shared experiences. Kind of like how Wii took off not through TV ads but by watching others use it or talk about it. You can't show the content without it looking much less interesting than it actually is, and you can't show people enjoying it without it looking like a karaoke bar after too many shots of sake were served.
Pharma has endless ads of people enjoying brisk walks outdoors and playing tennis and they're so happy you should ask your doctor today what narcotics will make you, too, this happy.
VR ads show people looking like they're desperately in need of straight jackets, or worse, already wearing one.
If only they'd put this effort into backwards compatibility
@NEStalgia Can't you just go onto PlayStation Direct and order PSVR2 right now if you want it? I believe they removed the requirement to sign up for interest months ago. (May be territorial again)
@thefourfoldroot1 @NEStalgia I actually think it's quite sensible the lack of PSVR2 major marketing, they will likely be pushing all their units Day 1, or close to, anyway. Get the VR fans onside first and don't create another scarcity problem like the PS5. If all goes well they will be able to pull others in later.
@themightyant Oh yeah, you can, and I did . But before that I'd not received an invite and in the whole 2 years of PS5 never once have received an invite to date. MS has sent me 2 or 3.
@thefourfoldroot1 I'm not well versed in business but I imagine that a cost/benefit analysis would probably show that the cost of this advertising campaign (which is undoubtedly substantial) would significantly outweigh the pull that it would have as a niche product. Ironically, it might actually be less expensive to advertise something everyone already knows of, and are more likely to buy.
Great marketing campaign indeed, would have loved to see that giant axe up close.
@JustPlainLoco Love the message, your comment should have more hearts imo!
I mean, Kratos is not bigger than a tree, so this cannot be his axe (or Faye's axe, as long as we're pretending). Kratos is just borrowing it until he merges with the light or something.
Also, please do not use the cleaving edge of the axe on stone. Do you have any idea how long it takes to sharpen a giant axe?
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