Word on the street is Stallone is a fan
A lot of people are annoyed with the idea of product placement in games. The inclusion of freeMercedes Benz DLC inMario Kart 8, and to a lesser extent, theExpendables 3/Broforcecollaboration, have some screaming “sell out”. Personally, I think they’re both great. A in-game ad or cross promotion can be unoffensive way to help a game to turn a profit. Anything that helps games to turn a profit without them being forced to pass the cost on to the consumer, or chase the favor of the lowest common denominator, is a good thing.
The key is to make sure that the thing being promoted and the game are a good fit for each other. Like theMario Kart 8Benz DLC. It’s a spot on parody of the concept of luxury cars as giant, over priced toys for grown ups. That’s what makes it work. As forThe Expendabros,it’s such a perfect fit that it denies need for explanation.
That said, lets explain it anyway. When asked about howThe Expendabroscame to be, Devolver’s Nigel Lowrie told us “Lionsgate Films caught wind ofBroforceand loved it so they reached out to Free Lives and Devolver Digital to see if we were interested in some sort of cross promotion. After some discussion we came up with the idea to parodyThe Expendables 3a bit likeBroforcehas done with classic 80s and 90s action films.Lionsgate was able to get buy off from the stars ofThe Expendablesseries and Free Lives spent two months working to create someExpendabroson the side. The environments, weapons, enemies, etc. that are inExpendabroswill all be used inBroforceduring its ongoing development but the character art is obviously unique to the crossover game.”
But how did names like Sylvester Stallone, Terry Crews, and Dolph Lungren feel about being Bro-ified? According to Lowrie “The actors did get to sign off on stuff and word on the street is that Sylvester Stallone is a fan of the project and even asked for some original art from the Free Lives team.”
I’m just surprised Stallone is cool with being called a Brony. Maybe he’s a fan of more than justBroforce…
