I played a fair amount of Death Stranding this weekend. I delivered a whole lot of packages, I threw some poop grenades at some oil-whale-things, and I maxed out my social link with Geoff Keighley. I also smashed a Monster Energy drink or two with my own version of Sam Porter Bridges and I gotta admit — the stupid in-game marketing worked directly as I’m sure it was intended to.
At this point, it’s pretty well-documented that the appearance of Monster Energy in Death Stranding is jarring, to say the least. In a dystopian version of America that is rife with ghosts, terrorists, and UPS delivery folks, somehow, Monster Energy is still a product that is in production. Yes, not even the advent of ghosts spread from sea to shining sea could keep down the Monster Beverage Corporation, apparently.
Furthermore, in this version of America, Monster seems to be the main thing that people drink nowadays. That, or, it’s just the main thing Sam Porter Bridges drinks. Not only can you chug back five Monsters at once in your private room after making a few deliveries with Sam in Death Stranding, but his canteen also magically manufactures the exact formula of Monster if you happen to come into contact with water while walking through the world. It even works on when you’re getting rained on the spooky BT Timefall rain.
In short, none of this makes any sense. Why is Monster Energy shown in Death Stranding so prevalently? Why did Kojima decide to add this cross-promotion in the game? And whose idea was it in the first place — Kojima Productions or Sony? Regardless of what the answer is, all I know is that Death Stranding has amplified my desire to drink Monster by 100%.
I woke up early yesterday morning to watch the League of Legends World Championship Finals and come to the mid-afternoon, I was dragging. While I could’ve taken a nap since I had nothing else to do during the day, I decided I wanted to power through and enjoy my day off. To do this though, I felt like I needed a jolt of energy to carry me through the rest of the evening. And wouldn’t you know it, the first thought that popped into my dumb head was, “Hey, I should go get some Monster.” So that’s exactly what I did; I ran down the block to my local Family Dollar, grabbed a can of Monster and some Kit Kats, and proceeded to chug back that drink like I too was Sam Porter Bridges.
I also feel like it’s worth mentioning that I’m not a regular Monster Energy consumer. I think I was in one point back in middle school and high school (much to my mother’s dismay) but I don’t think I’ve legitimately thought about drinking Monster in years. The only reason it was even on my mind was because of Death Stranding.
So why the heck am I writing this article in the first place? I guess it’s just to say that dumb marketing works on dumb people (me). Even though many, myself included, have been laughing at Monster’s inclusion in Death Stranding, it’s clearly a crossover that has worked. Heck, fellow DualShockers writer Michael Ruiz told me that he bought a four-pack of Monster over the weekend to drink while playing this game as well. Maybe Mike and I are both just idiots, but I have a feeling that Monster’s inclusion in Death Stranding has proven to be greatly beneficial for the world’s edgiest energy drink company.
Our full Death Stranding review should be out in the next week or so. I might buy a case or two of Monster to help me power through to get this review out sooner rather than later, so stay tuned.
The post Death Stranding’s In-Game Monster Energy Drink Marketing Definitely Worked on Me by Logan Moore appeared first on DualShockers.