We’re still waiting for Sony to release the promised PlayStation Plus version of its racing game DriveClub, but that’s not stopping the publisher from promoting the game by partnering with … Philips Norelco and its electric razors.
Consumer-electronics retailer BestBuy’s deal of the day is the Philips Norelco — Click & Style PS4 DriveClub Bonus Pack (via NeoGaf). That’s right, it’s an electric razor that comes with downloadable content for Sony’s driving game. For $40, you get a way to shave your face as well 10 exclusive car skins and 250,000 Fame points, which is the in-game currency for buying upgrades and better vehicles.
It’s hard to tell if the DriveClub DLC is intended to entice gamers to buy this trimmer or if its meant to get fans of smooth skin to try the racer. Such tie-in promotions are not new to gaming. Perhaps most famously, PepsiCo regularly partners with publishers to feature games like Call of Duty and Halo on bags of Doritos and bottles of Mountain Dew.
DriveClub isn’t even the first time that games have partnered with a men’s grooming product line.
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In 2014, Ubisoft partnered with Energizer Personal Care to promote open-world action game Assassin’s Creed: Unity with the line of Edge shaving gels. Edge introduced three kinds of shaving gels branded with Assassin’s Creed: Unity imagery, and each came with a different piece of DLC.
Maybe the thinking is that “men play games — let’s use that to sell face-maintenance products.” But these all seem like random and weird partnerships.
I also wonder if this Philips Norelco partnership with Sony means that Nintendo’s relationship with Philips has fallen on hard times. Guess we won’t get any sequels to those CD-i Zelda games.
