ALL-STAR REBOOT The late basketball celebrity Kobe Bryant graces the duvet of the NBA 2K24 online game. —SCREEN GRAB
PARIS—The postretirement careers of the most important sports activities stars might be fascinating to observe—Viagra advertisements, property ventures, crypto tasks—however one possibility is changing into a sure-fire winner: put your face on the duvet of a online game.
And demise isn’t any barrier for this specific profession, with two standard video games this yr selecting sports activities legends who’re now not with us.
LA Lakers basketball star Kobe Bryant, who died in a helicopter accident in 2020, graces the duvet of “NBA 2K24.”
And two of the world’s best footballers from bygone eras—Pele and Johan Cruyff—get posthumous respect with their figures emblazoned on “FC 24” from EA Sports activities.
They’re joined on the duvet of the EA sport by a galaxy of still-living stars of the more moderen previous—Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldinho—and current —Erling Haaland and Alexia Putellas.
French legend Zidane informed Agence France-Presse (AFP) in June that many younger kids now knew him largely by his look within the EA sport, previously referred to as “Fifa.”
Advertising nostalgia
“Youngsters age 8 to 10 don’t know me, except their dads have informed them about what I did again within the day,” mentioned the World Cup winner.
“It’s extra by PlayStation, so it’s form of humorous. I’m used to it.”
The ties between online game publishers and sports activities stars go deep, significantly in the USA.
The main online game sequence on American soccer bears the identify of a former participant, John Madden, who retired in 1978 to grow to be a sports activities commentator.
Julien Pillot, an economist specializing in cultural industries, informed AFP the endorsement of bona fide legends was clearly a strong advertising and marketing device.
And the customarily large value of getting their endorsement, he mentioned, was “greater than offset” by the gross sales they generate— each of the video games themselves and the ever-present in-game “playing cards” required to unlock extra content material.
Intergenerational
Gaming corporations have been enjoying on the “intergenerational facet” and including “a contact of nostalgia,” Pillot mentioned.
It’s a characteristic that executives should not shy about highlighting.
“My 7-year-old solely actually is aware of who Pele is due to his wonderful score on FC,” David Jackson, vice chairman of the EA Sports activities FC model, informed AFP.
He mentioned the sport had allowed followers to really feel a little bit little bit of the magic of enjoying with stars from earlier generations.
And it really works each methods, in line with a few of the stars concerned—even those that don’t price as extremely as Pele.
“Individuals of a sure technology know me by what I’ve performed on the pitch,” mentioned World Cup winner Robert Pires on the launch celebration for the EA sport in Paris.
However a 12-year-old boy informed Pires lately he had solely realized who the French star was by enjoying the sport.
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“I requested him: ‘Am I good?’” Pires mentioned. “He informed me: ‘You’re good, however you’re sluggish.’”
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