PlayStation has been a known sponsor of the UEFA Champions League for many years. The PlayStation brand has been prominently advertised at all UEFA Champions League matches and earlier in July, both parties had renewed the partnership for the years 2021-2024.
As a part of this deal, PlayStation will present the Official Player of the Match award for each UEFA Champions League match. The agreement between PlayStation and UEFA also includes the UEFA Super Cup, UEFA Youth League, and UEFA Futsal Champions League for the years 2021, 2022, and 2023. Sony has just now released a brand-new video, featuring some of the most popular PlayStation characters, that highlights the importance of this partnership.
The video begins with a shot of Nathan Drake’s grappling hook from Uncharted 4 while Kratos and Atreus are seen lining-up with other players in the tunnel. It then shows Aloy using her Focus to go through various formations in order to implement tactical changes. All throughout, Nathan Drake is using the grappling hook from earlier to climb to the roof of the stadium. Ratchet and Clank come through a rift in order to take an injured player off on a stretcher, and the video ends with a great shot of Nate overlooking the field.
The UEFA Champions League is watched by millions of fans from all around the world, and it comes as no surprise that PlayStation would want to market this partnership as much as possible. Many teams probably consider it to be the most prestigious and desired trophy at club level. All of the best clubs from Europe are placed in groups of 4, with 2 teams from every group advancing to the knockout stage. The team that finishes third gets to compete for the UEFA Europa League trophy.
As expected, this video features some of the most popular characters from PlayStation’s recent history, but a few of them are surprisingly absent. Most notable is the exclusion of Joel or Ellie, especially when considering that The Last of Us is one of PlayStation’s biggest franchises. Perhaps Sony did not want include more than one character or team from the same developer.
While characters from games made by Naughty Dog, Santa Monica Studio, Insomniac Games, and Guerrilla Games all getting featured, Sucker Punch’s absence is also a surprise. Regardless, the ad further proves that Europe is the one of the most important regions for Sony and the PlayStation brand.