Movie promotion tie-ins are pretty common with games, as you could see from the inclusion of Halloween‘s Michael Myers and the self-titled Predator in last year’s Call of Duty: Ghosts, as add-on DLC. This week, John Wick will get a turn in a video game role.
Wick, the lead character in the forthcoming Keanu Reeves film of the same name, will be added to 505 Games’ multiplayer shooter Payday 2, which is currently available for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC. The move is part of a partnership between Lionsgate, Thunder Road Pictures (in collaboration with Payday‘s development team Starbreeze Studios) and 505 Games.
In the add-on content, which will be available tomorrow, players get to control Wick as part of the Payday robbery gang. He will play his park with a new Hitman perk system, as well as a new custom pistol and knife melee weapon, as well as sunglasses and other customizable gear. The add-on will be free of charge, as part of the game’s latest update
“We’re big fans of Payday 2 and the team at Starbreeze, and we’re thrilled to kick off our partnership with such a cool movie,” said Lionsgate EVP of Digital Marketing Danielle DePalma. “The hyper-real action sequences in the film almost make you feel like you’re watching an insane video game, so we cannot wait to see John Wick in theaters as well as experience him in the game.”
“We continue working with great partners, this time with Lionsgate and their movie John Wick,” said Starbreeze Chief Executive Officer Bo Andersson Klint. “We’ve finally got a real hitman on our team. Being able to play as John Wick in Payday 2 ahead of the movie’s release is a great reward for our loyal Payday 2 community, which reached the final milestone of 1.5 million members in our Payday 2 Steam group before our 12-day Crimefest event.”
“Lionsgate’s entry into the game space is continuing to build momentum with the addition of another great partner and a tremendous piece of IP,” said Lionsgate President of Interactive Ventures & Games Peter Levin. “We’re delighted to capitalize on this opportunity to collaborate with a world-class partner like Starbreeze whose unique action community includes millions of our target fans.”
John Wick arrives in theaters October 24.