In this episode (302) of Office Hours, with our host William “The Professor” Collis, we discuss the God of War Ragnarök trailer that featured celebrity fathers like LeBron James, Ben Stiller, and John Travolta talking with their kids about parent-child dynamics!
Transcripts
William Collis:
Hello, everyone, and welcome to another episode
William Collis:
of office hours with the professor. As always, I'm your
William Collis:
host, William, the professor, call us and a great, great,
William Collis:
great office hours this week, this may be my favorite office
William Collis:
hours of all time. If that doesn't amp you up. I don't know
William Collis:
what well, but let's get right into it. What's the topic? What
William Collis:
am I so excited to cover? Well, it's the new trailer that
William Collis:
dropped for God of War Ragnarok. It's the parents trailer that
William Collis:
features Ben Stiller, LeBron James and John Travolta, talking
William Collis:
with their kids about sort of parent child dynamics. Why am I
William Collis:
so excited to cover this? Let's get the obvious reasons out of
William Collis:
the way because they're an interesting one is I'm super
William Collis:
excited for God of War Ragnarok. I thought the last God of War
William Collis:
was absolutely brilliant. I can't wait to play this new
William Collis:
game, I think it's going to be incredible. So of course, I'm
William Collis:
excited to have a reason to talk about more god of war. Another
William Collis:
reason is, it's a star studded trailer. You know, this sort of
William Collis:
trailer that's really reserved for typically the Call of Duty's
William Collis:
and franchises like that. But those are sort of trivial
William Collis:
reasons. Like the biggest reason I want to cover this has been
William Collis:
the name of the trailer itself. This trailer is called parents,
William Collis:
this is some of the most overt marketing in gaming I have ever
William Collis:
seen to the more maturing gaming demographics. The original god
William Collis:
of war, just for context, launched in 2005. And it had, I
William Collis:
believe, a Mature rating. So optimistically, say, your
William Collis:
parents let you play it when you were 13. Let's say you were 30.
William Collis:
Now, right, 17 years ago, you may very well have kids,
William Collis:
certainly, many, many people who played the original god of war
William Collis:
have kids. And this is just typical of a wider reality in
William Collis:
gaming, but the Nintendo generations, the PlayStation
William Collis:
generations, right? They have grown up, they're now in their
William Collis:
30s and 40s. And this trailer is just such an overt signal that
William Collis:
not only had these generations grown up, but they are distinct
William Collis:
consumer marketing segments. And they can be marketed to on
William Collis:
demographic bases, not just on how you typically see games
William Collis:
marketing, which is great game for gamers, right? I think this
William Collis:
is so fascinating. You know, to my knowledge, this is probably
William Collis:
the most overt piece of parental marketing and commercial
William Collis:
marketing games I have ever seen. Since there was a Final
William Collis:
Fantasy commercial, I actually tried to find it for this office
William Collis:
hours I couldn't it ran a few years ago, that showed a
William Collis:
generation of family playing across all the Final Fantasies
William Collis:
together, you know, starting with the original Nintendo
William Collis:
anyway. So I think this is just a big, big deal for our
William Collis:
industry, I really mean that. I think this is sort of like a
William Collis:
watershed moment in terms of before and after for what we're
William Collis:
going to see going forward in the next five to 10 years, we're
William Collis:
going to see much more sophisticated marketing tactics,
William Collis:
and they're going to be targeted at a wider range of gamers than
William Collis:
ever before, right, we're going to see specific gaming segments
William Collis:
really called out as interest groups for specific titles in a
William Collis:
way that just sort of hasn't happened historically, in games
William Collis:
marketing. That's one two is, you know, this is really
William Collis:
emblematic of this thing I've been saying for a long time,
William Collis:
which is like, we don't have T beers. We don't have movie
William Collis:
years, right? Everybody watches TV and movies, right? It's just
William Collis:
unusual to me that we have gamers because basically
William Collis:
everybody plays games, right? And I think the reality is this
William Collis:
type of cross generational marketing emphasizes that just
William Collis:
as you see specific targeted marketing practices taking place
William Collis:
across all other industries, it's time for that to really
William Collis:
happen in a meaningful way in games. And I think this parental
William Collis:
trailer or parents trailer for God of War Ragnarok, really and
William Collis:
meaningfully underscores that trend. So I give this an A plus.
William Collis:
I absolutely loved it. I think it's an exciting moment,
William Collis:
actually, not just for great games coming out but for how our
William Collis:
industry approaches presents and advertises itself. And I hope
William Collis:
you enjoyed this take on what was a fun trailer and will join
