David Fincher’s New Xbox Commercial Has Big PS2 Energy

Xbox has released a new commercial directed by David Fincher that features a bunch of CGI rat-human hybrids in a dirty, crowded city. It’s the kind of ad we don’t often see anymore, and it reminds me of some of the weirdest live-action ads Sony used to make for the PS2 and PS3.

On April 10, Xbox published “Wake Up.” The company describes it as a “Brand Trailer.” As such, it’s not really designed to sell you on a specific game or item, but instead it’s meant to get you talking about the Xbox brand. Which I guess I’m doing right now. Good job.

Here’s the new David Fincher-directed Xbox advertisement:

And here’s Xbox’s description of the ad:

In Xbox’s Wake Up, directed by David Fincher and Romain Chassaing, a wonderfully off-beat fairy tale unfolds: Horatio, a rat, rekindles his humanity through the joy of gaming. We follow Horatio through a day in the rat race: a packed commute, the drudgery of the office, a rushed lunch at his desk. The mundanity is interrupted by glimpses of mysterious gamers—the only humans we see amongst the rats. After a long day, Horatio powers on his Xbox on his Samsung OLED TV and connects with his friends. A much-needed dose of fun transforms him into the human he always was.

Now, normally at Kotaku we don’t post about things like “Brand Trailers” because who cares? But in this case, we’ve made an exception because this Fincher-directed Xbox trailer is very similar to the kind of weird live-action trailers and commercials we’d get from Sony back in the day. Stuff like that time David Lynch directed a PS2 commercial. Yeah, that happened.

This rat ad reminds me of a time when Sony would make a PS3 ad with a weird alien girl. Or a baby doll crying and losing its mind at the sight of a PS3 console.

For about a decade or so there it felt like Sony and even Xbox (which had a few weird live-action ads of its own) were willing to spend lots of money on commercials that didn’t really convince you to buy a new console, but did stick with you for years after you caught them late at night on your TV. And this rat ad will hopefully stick with some kids, and in 15 years or so they’ll look back fondly on that time David Fincher directed an Xbox commercial about rats.

.