It was recently announced that Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is coming to PlayStation 5 next month. As part of the announcement, Bethesda put out an announcement video for the game that quickly caught my attention. I wasn’t just excited to see that PS5 players wouldn’t have to wait long to play the game, but also about the specific method that the trailer used to advertise the game. My hope is that the ad campaign is successful, and starts a trend for future games to make similar choices with their promotion.
Typically, I don’t have many strong thoughts about the specific method used to advertise a game. So long as I get a look at some gameplay and a solid release date, I’m usually happy with any trailer. However, the announcement for Indiana Jones on PS5 was different. While I don’t have particularly strong feelings about its role as advertising, I do appreciate that it acknowledges some of gaming’s often unsung heroes, and I hope to see them getting more of a spotlight in the future.
Indiana Jones’ PS5 Trailer Highlights Prominent Gaming Actors
The Trailer Stars Troy Baker And Nolan North
Bethesda’s YouTube channel put out a PS5 Date Reveal video for Indiana Jones and the Great Circle which featured two prominent names in video game voice acting. The trailer features Indiana Jones‘ Troy Baker alongside fellow prominent voice actor, Nolan North. North was clearly chosen due to his role as PlayStation’s resident treasure hunter, Nathan Drake of the Uncharted series. The ad shows North welcoming Baker to PlayStation, as well as the two humorously discussing Indy’s and Drake’s differing styles of adventuring.
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As much as I enjoyed the trailer for what it is, I was much more excited about simply seeing two of my favorite video game actors featured as themselves in the ad. While not unheard of, it is somewhat rare for games to give their actors the spotlight out of character as part of the game’s promotional campaign. However, this type of promotion is a common occurrence for most other types of media. It got me wondering why we don’t see more voice actors highlighted in similar ways, despite all the hard work they do to bring games to life.
Voice Actors Like North And Baker Deserve A Lot Of Credit For Bringing Games To Life
Voice Actors Often Don’t Get The Same Recognition As Screen Actors For Their Hard Work
In general, traditional actors tend to get a lot more recognition for their roles than voice actors. The average person is more likely to be able to rattle off three roles that Tom Hanks has played than to do the same for Troy Baker, despite Baker having over 300 more credited roles than Hanks, according to IMDb. While I think video games have come a long way toward being recognized as a form of art, it sometimes still feels like the artists who work on them haven’t yet enjoyed the same recognition as those who work in other mediums.
This is a real shame, as voice actors like Baker and North have done a lot of great work that is deserving of acknowledgment. Baker’s performance as Joel Miller opposite Ashley Johnson as Ellie in The Last of Us is essential for making the game’s story hit as hard as it does. Likewise, Nathan Drake would be nothing without the charm and comedic timing that North imbued him with (something that was proven by the mediocre live-action take on the character).
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Voice actors also often have an impressively wide range, being able to play wildly different characters convincingly. Baker is a good example of this, having portrayed both Batman and The Joker, two characters that many understand to be polar opposites of one another. His portrayal of Indiana Jones was also so spot-on that it earned the approval of Harrison Ford, despite Ford previously seeming unconvinced that any other actor could fill the role.
Baldur’s Gate 3 Reunited Its Cast For Animated Shorts To Help Promote The Game
Seeing Troy Baker and Nolan North in the Indiana Jones and the Great Circle ad also made me think about Baldur’s Gate 3, and the popularity that its cast enjoyed following the game’s release. Although Larian didn’t have a trailer like the one Indiana Jones did, it did release several animated shorts bringing the cast back in their iconic roles to promote the game. Baldur’s Gate 3 cast members appeared on outlets like IGN as themselves in videos that weren’t dissimilar to what you might see Hollywood actors doing on talk shows or WIRED videos.
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For Once In My Life, Indiana Jones & The Great Circle Might Actually Have Me Excited For DLC
Indiana Jones & The Great Circle was a fantastic game and it has a DLC coming that for once I feel very excited to play when it releases.
My hope is that games like Indiana Jones and the Great Circle giving voice actors more of a spotlight will become more of a trend in the gaming world. It would be nice to see voice actors getting recognition for the key part that they play in creating games with engaging stories. Perhaps one day, instances like the Baldur’s Gate 3 cast’s popularity could be more of the norm and less of an outlier.
Sources: Bethesda/YouTube, IMDb, IGN/YouTube
- Released
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December 9, 2024
- ESRB
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N/A
- Developer(s)
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MachineGames
