Destiny has some fairly big names behind their NPCs. Big enough to get lots of people legitimately excited for a game that certainly wasn't clearly explained early on. Considering all the vague teasers that came out before the alpha went live, wouldn't it have been money well spent to produce a quick 3-minute video with footage from these celeb voice actors in the recording booth, introducing some actual characters in the process?
We see this all the time from games with smaller marketing budgets. Examples: Mass Effect 3's voice actor feature with Martin Sheen, Keith David, Seth Green, etc., and Alien: Isolation's voice cast video arguably got more people excited for the game than any gameplay footage shown before it.
We all knew about Peter Dinklage's inclusion before the alpha, but outside of an IMDB search or this Xbox Wire post 3 weeks after the game's launch, nobody (certainly not Activision) pushed the fact that so much fan-favorite talent was featured in the game. It's fun to hear a familiar voice once you have the game running, but that doesn't boost hype during pre-orders.
Just look at this roster:
Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones, X-Men: Days of Future Past): Ghost
Nathan Fillion (Firefly, Serenity, Castle): Cayde-6, Hunter Vanguard
Peter Stormare (Fargo, The Big Lebowski, Constantine): Arach Jalaal, Dead Orbit Merchant
Bill Nighy (Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean, Shaun of the Dead, Underworld): The Speaker
Lance Reddick (motherfucking Lt. Daniels from The Wire, Fringe, The Guest): Commander Zavala, Titan Vanguard
Lauren Cohan (Maggie from The Walking Dead, Archer, Chuck): EXO Stranger
Shohreh Aghdashloo (Mass Effect, 24, X-Men: The Last Stand): Lakshmi-2, Future War Cult Merchant
James Remar (Dexter, X-Men: First Class, The Warriors): Executioner Hideo, New Monarchy Merchant
Lennie James (Snatch, The Walking Dead, Low Winter Sun): Lord Shaxx, Crucible Handler
Gina Torres (The Matrix, Firefly, 24, Alias): Ikora Rey, Warlock Vanguard
Everyone knows this cast. If some of the names don't look familiar, you'll know their faces:
Why not push this in pre-launch marketing? The people I've talked to who were loosely involved in Destiny's production shrugged when I asked them.
We see this all the time from games with smaller marketing budgets. Examples: Mass Effect 3's voice actor feature with Martin Sheen, Keith David, Seth Green, etc., and Alien: Isolation's voice cast video arguably got more people excited for the game than any gameplay footage shown before it.
We all knew about Peter Dinklage's inclusion before the alpha, but outside of an IMDB search or this Xbox Wire post 3 weeks after the game's launch, nobody (certainly not Activision) pushed the fact that so much fan-favorite talent was featured in the game. It's fun to hear a familiar voice once you have the game running, but that doesn't boost hype during pre-orders.
Just look at this roster:
Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones, X-Men: Days of Future Past): Ghost
Nathan Fillion (Firefly, Serenity, Castle): Cayde-6, Hunter Vanguard
Peter Stormare (Fargo, The Big Lebowski, Constantine): Arach Jalaal, Dead Orbit Merchant
Bill Nighy (Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean, Shaun of the Dead, Underworld): The Speaker
Lance Reddick (motherfucking Lt. Daniels from The Wire, Fringe, The Guest): Commander Zavala, Titan Vanguard
Lauren Cohan (Maggie from The Walking Dead, Archer, Chuck): EXO Stranger
Shohreh Aghdashloo (Mass Effect, 24, X-Men: The Last Stand): Lakshmi-2, Future War Cult Merchant
James Remar (Dexter, X-Men: First Class, The Warriors): Executioner Hideo, New Monarchy Merchant
Lennie James (Snatch, The Walking Dead, Low Winter Sun): Lord Shaxx, Crucible Handler
Gina Torres (The Matrix, Firefly, 24, Alias): Ikora Rey, Warlock Vanguard
Everyone knows this cast. If some of the names don't look familiar, you'll know their faces:
Why not push this in pre-launch marketing? The people I've talked to who were loosely involved in Destiny's production shrugged when I asked them.
