Opinion - Celebrities in Video Games

The Emergence of Big Names in Video Games

I came up with this topic after hearing a question in one of my favorite podcasts (PlayStation Trophy Room) about more and more celebrities and actors being used in video games. Considering I’m currently playing Death Stranding 2, it was something I decided to write my thoughts down on. First, let’s talk about why some people may not be crazy about it.

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Harrison Ford made an appearance at the 2024 Game Awards

A Part of the Show

Celebrities have always been a crutch used by many industries to portray themselves as mainstream. This is especially true in another fandom I love - wrestling. Vince McMahon’s obsession with Hollywood and musicians is how he got the Hulk Hogan era of WWE going, with the lead up to the first WrestleMania heavily attached to MTV and stars like Cyndi Lauper and Mr. T. Later on, they would use this ploy during some of their rougher times in the mid 1990s and the 2010s. Don’t feel you have star power or feel you need a draw to get people interested in your product? Stick in celebrities. We make fun of it, especially wrestling fans, but the fact is that it works. Today, you see some gamers lament Geoff Keighley’s obsession with celebrities, always looking to place them in his Game Awards show. Don’t get me wrong, it's cool to see these people, and it's led to genuinely awesome moments (Harrison Ford last year), but there is a bit of a cringe factor, and the argument can be made that gaming doesn’t need this to feel mainstream or popular.

However, what if the celebrities are coming to us? Let’s use the wrestling example again. While it has been used during down times, when wrestling is firing on all cylinders and going through a boom period, it’s the celebs that want in. Today, wrestling fans roll their eyes when they see Bad Bunny, Jelly Roll, Logan Paul, Travis Scott, Rob Gronkowski, Cardi B, and more… but they’re approaching the company to be a part of these events. It adds to the cool factor when the “cool people” want to be part of your product because they feel it’s the hot thing. Well, some celebrities are legitimate gamers themselves, and I can see why they would want to be involved. Timothée Chalamet making an appearance once at the show made sense because he’s a legit gamer. Christopher Nolan doing the presentation for 2020’s Game of the Year award… a little more looking for mainstream. Either way, I do feel embracing the celebrities will lead to actual people who love your medium wanting to be a part of it, and it does remind you just how big and “cool” the industry is.

Hideo Kojima has made a lot of Hollywood friends, including famed director Guillermo del Toro

The Performers

We are now seeing more Hollywood and TV actors performing in narrative-driven video games. There have been some gripes about Hideo Kojima’s Hollywood connections and how he likes to use actors for his recent Death Stranding games to portray and even voice characters. Some say it takes them out of it, or that they feel it takes away from video game performers who aren’t from that world. I have to say, I disagree with that. Even Death Stranding gives a few roles to people who aren’t from that world, and the main antagonist of the games (and the character that stands out) is portrayed by Troy Baker, arguably the most famous male performer in video games. I think some of this stems from gamers who don’t like the idea of someone from another media world entering their fandom and feeling like they're fake. Elle Fanning said in an interview she was surprised how emotional her role got when doing Death Stranding 2 and I can see someone reading that and feeling like she didn’t respect gaming. However, I see it more as Fanning realizing how powerful video games can be as a storytelling medium, and I think that’s a win.

I think that as video games become more of a lifestyle, even bigger than mainstream, you will see more and more popular people wanting to have some part in it. Guess what? It’s not just video games that have had this. In the 1990s, the Disney Renaissance produced one of the best eras in animation since the Disney Silver Age. One reason was Disney's ability to secure big-name actors to voice their characters. Part of this was due to then-CEO Michael Eisner’s connections in the industry, but a part of this was simply actors wanting to claim they were part of a Disney film. Remember, many of these actors grew up on Silver Age Disney, and as the company got back on track, I can imagine a Tom Hanks being told about Toy Story and feeling like he was going to be a part of something as impactful as Lady and the Tramp. Billy Joel accepted a part in Oliver & Company so his daughter could see him as part of a Disney film. I can see that many people who grew up gaming are trying to be part of video game film adaptations (Jack Black comes to mind) or are actually characters in a video game.

John Wayne appears in I Love Lucy

The Future Stars

Lastly, I would like to point out how history shapes what a celebrity is. There’s going to be a future where video game performers become as famous as Hollywood and TV stars. This happened to the TV industry. When TV first started, shows used Hollywood names to lend credibility to their shows, and you could hear the audiences for the first sitcoms go wild when they appeared. The infamous I Love Lucy used Hollywood as a central gimmick to keep you tuning in. Eventually, Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz became major stars in their own right. Today, TV is almost as big as Hollywood and gets its own stars. This will eventually happen to video games; in fact, it’s already starting. Troy Baker is gaining more and more recognition, and former Mario voice actor Charles Martinet has become relatively popular outside of the gaming medium. We will get to a point where these performers and voice artists become at least close to becoming as well-known as Hollywood and TV stars as the video game industry continues its evolution.

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