Video games weren't always endorsed by a diverse audience. At one point, the entertainment medium belonged to a niche market. Now, everyone from movie stars to basketball players has embraced the medium in the public spotlight. The industry is booming and that's only because video games are far-reaching as far as consumers are concerned.
Publishers and developers understand what entices gaming fans to lay down hard-earned cash on their games — hype. And what better way is there to rally hype behind a triple-A release than to get a beloved celebrity to do it for you? Some of the best gaming commercials nowadays feature celebrities at the center of marketing campaigns.
10 Jonah Hill And Sam Worthington (Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3)
As far as first-person shooters are concerned, Call of Duty has been a household name for nearly two decades. The multiplayer components are the gifts that keep on giving as players join their friends in explosive firefights.
There have been plenty of commercials for the series over the years, with the best commercials signaling to players of all shapes and sizes that they're welcome to join in the fun. Modern Warfare 3's effort features actors Jonah Hill and Sam Worthington. Hill plays the role of the noob, while Worthington shows him the ropes of being a skilled operator. By the time the 60-second spot is over, Hill is decorating the streets with flames and bullets in style.
9 Bryan Cranston (Mega Force)
Once upon a time, celebrities weren't yet celebrities. They were just struggling actors trying to find work. Back in the formative years of gaming, Mega Force barreled onto the scene like a motorcycle headed into battle packing missiles.
Bryan Cranston appeared in this Atari 2600 gaming TV spot as the eager gamer ready to take dirt biking to the next explosive level. It's a wild commercial that is truly the epitome of '80s action entertainment.
8 Robin And Zelda Williams (The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time 3D)
It's no secret that Robin Williams was a big video game fan. After all, he named his daughter Zelda after the Hyrulian princess that stole his heart. So, it only made sense that Nintendo capitalized on Williams' fandom by engaging the comedian and actor in a bit of marketing for a heavy hitter within the series.
When The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D launched on the Nintendo 3DS, Williams and his daughter appeared in the TV spot for the title. He can be heard musing about his adventures with the Princess, before being brought back down to planet Earth by his daughter inquiring if he mixed her up with the fictional character yet again.
7 Chuck Norris (World Of Warcraft)
World of Warcraft has long been a staple in the world of MMOs. To promote it over the years, Blizzard Entertainment unleashed a marketing campaign that involved several celebrities talking about their own in-game characters across a series of commercials. Some of these celebrities included Verne Troyer, Ozzy Osbourne, and Mr. T.
However, the best of these commercials had to be the one featuring the world-famous Chuck Norris. Humorously, the commercial features Norris punching a litany of in-game creatures, including the TV screen right after voicing his approval of the game.
6 Paul Rudd (Super Nintendo)
Paul Rudd is another famous actor who once starred in a gaming commercial long before he became an acting sensation. Sporting a trench coat and shaggy hair that absolutely reeked of the 1990s, Rudd can be seen standing before a massive screen feeling the power of the newest Nintendo console (at the time).
It's a deliciously cheesy TV spot that features the future Ant-Man thumbing his way through the gateway catalog of games for the Super Nintendo. Surely, this commercial spot is a nostalgia trip for many '90s children.
5 Liam Neeson (Clash Of Clans)
Who knows, maybe this mobile strategy game wouldn't have gained the traction that it did without Liam Neeson growling on screen. Neeson, hot of the release of the Taken films and becoming the new face of the action genre starred in a Clash of Clans commercial shortly after its 2012 debut.
After being utterly defeated, the commercial zooms out to show Neeson in control of the game humorously vowing revenge against the user who laid waste to his armies in the middle of a pastry shop. Nothing like a rousing strategy game to pass the time waiting for that freshly baked Danish.
4 Brie Larson (Nintendo Switch)
Not all celebrities are true gamers. In fact, it's hard to imagine whether a particular actor is just collecting a paycheck or is actually a fan of the medium. There's no wondering, however, when it comes to Brie Larson, who has famously shared her fandom of all things Nintendo — including her own cosplay of Samus Aran.
So, when she appeared in a TV spot for the Nintendo Switch, we knew her love for the platform was real. In fact, the commercial showcases how easy it is for even a high-profile actor to get wrapped up in a game while she's supposed to be discussing business. Surely, that's never happened to anyone, ever.
3 Keanu Reeves (Cyberpunk 2077)
Alright, so this one is a bit of a cheat considering Keanu Reeves plays a major role in Cyberpunk 2077. So, who better to use as a salesperson for the game than Reeves himself?
Reeves hypes the game in a few different spots set to the backdrop of Billie Eilish's "Bad Guy." While the game was met with critical disdain for performance issues upon release, there's no doubt that Reeves had us all ready to take the future by storm with these commercials.
2 Jimmy Kimmel And Kobe Bryant (Call Of Duty: Black Ops)
While Modern Warfare 3 continued the "there's a soldier in all of us" tagline, Black Ops started it with a well-crafted commercial showing us a uniquely hilarious battlefield. Sure, war might not be funny. But it's most certainly strange when businesswomen with high heels, food truck cooks, and NBA star Kobe Bryant find their own foxholes to dig into.
The crowning moment of the whole spot is when Jimmy Kimmel blasts a helicopter with an RPG labeled "proud noob." There's no doubt that Activision wanted everyone to buy into the series with this one.
1 Ben Stiller, John Travolta, And LeBron James (God Of War Ragnarok)
Kratos' Nordic adventure continues in God of War Ragnarok. With the hype for the sequel at a fever pitch considering the 2018 game's critical success, it's a possibility that Sony never even needed to market this title for it to make a splash.
Still, Sony employed Ben Stiller, John Travolta, and LeBron James in a silly commercial where the three men attempted to bond with their children by harnessing as much Kratos energy as they could muster. Stiller is even decked out completely in Kratos attire. If that image doesn't catch your attention, nothing will.