When a big PS4 game is about to be released Sony often releases a live-action commercial — normally on the humorous side — to push the upcoming launch, and Monster Hunter World is no exception.
As usual, Densha Otoko star Takayuki Yamaka comes back to reprise his role of massive gamer. He has become pretty much the face of PS4 in Japan, and he fits in that role definitely well.
In this commercial, Yamada gives three kouhai (younger colleagues) envelopes containing Otoshidama money on New Year day. They immediately start talking about what they’d like to buy with it, and Yamada starts fuming since he expects them to purchase Monster Hunter World to play with him.
If you’re not familiar with Otoshidama, it’s a Japanese New Year tradition in which parents give gift money to their sons and daughters all the way into their twenties. The tradition isn’t necessarily only for children, and it can extend to kouhai at work (even if this is rarer), which is what we’re seeing here.
It’s also worth mentioning that Monster Hunter World will be a PS4 exclusive in Japan.
You can check out the video below. Unfortunately, I can’t show you past examples, because Sony tends to remove Yamada’s ads after a while, probably due to contractual reasons. That being said, if you want to learn more about Monster Hunter World, you can check out a recent commercial, a batch of screenshots showing the NPCs of the Survey Resource Management Office, more footage showing a hunt for Nergigante, a series of charming mini-trailers, a trailer from a few days before ago, more screenshots showing more of the game’s most relevant NPCs, and our comparison between the three graphics modes on PS4 Pro.
Monster Hunter World will release worldwide on January 26th, for PS4 and Xbox One, with a PC version coming at a later date.