Turtle Rock's spiritual successor to Left 4 Dead is just days away from release and the push to get gamers excited for Back 4 Blood is gaining steam. Accessibility is the least of Back 4 Blood's problem, as when the game launches on October 12 it'll be available not just across PC and consoles but also via a low-price Xbox Game Pass subscription. As such, advertising just needs to reach the right set of eyes, which is exactly what Back 4 Blood did at Saturday's UFC Vegas 39 event.
UFC Vegas 39, the latest weekend event for the mixed martial arts promotion, was headlined by a match between top strawweights Mackenzie Dern and Marina Rodriguez. The card below Dern and Rodriguez was exceptional for a non-numbered UFC event, as well. Given the UFC's violent nature, it seemed the perfect opportunity to advertise Back 4 Blood, which is what publisher Warner Bros. did. Back 4 Blood logos were printed across the UFC octagon ring's mat as one of UFC Vegas 39's key sponsors.
As valuable as such prime advertising at a popular UFC event may be on its own, money couldn't buy the opportunity Back 4 Blood was presented during UFC Vegas 39's preliminary matches. It was a fight between Damon Jackson and Charles Rosa in the UFC's featherweight division and Jackson had a strong performance through two rounds. That's when, in the third round, Rosa attempted a spinning elbow and caught Jackson mid-takedown above his right eye and opened a brutal cut.
Jackson would later describe the situation as "squirting real good," and fans would likely agree with the description. Jackson would take Rosa to the mat and in the process bleed quite a bit. Purely by coincidence, Jackson's bloody attack occurred right above the Back 4 Blood logo at the edge of the ring. It was exactly the visual that Warner Bros. was likely hoping for when it bought its sponsorship with UFC.
Jackson would ultimately win his bout with Rosa, but his blood would remain on the UFC mat throughout the rest of the show. Back 4 Blood's logo, accented by splashes of authentic violence, flashed on-screen up to and including the main event. It was a sight to behold.
Back 4 Blood is, of course, a brutally violent zombie game in which players hack at the living dead with axes, beat them with baseball bats, and otherwise turn the undead into a bloody pulp. There's obviously a world of difference between professional fighting and the undead apocalypse, but if Warner Bros. wants to capture violence in its advertising then the UFC deal was money well spent.
Back 4 Blood releases October 12 on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.