It’s not a JRPG unless you kill God with the power of Cup Noodles
Back in September, we covered Square Enix’s collaboration with Nissin in order to add its Cup Noodle product range into the long-anticipated Final Fantasy XV. Not only was Square Enix to feature Cup Noodles as a consumable item in its then-upcoming role-playing game, but the development studio behind the latest instalment in the Final Fantasy series was also hard at work creating a quest that would send Prince Noctis and his friends on a perilous journey to search for the ultimate flavour of instant ramen.
No, really.
It turns out that these in-game adverts for Cup Noodle didn’t make up the entirety of Square Enix and Nissin’s partnership. The two companies have managed to save the most ridiculous and terrible — yet somehow still wonderful — piece of cross-promotion for an utterly bizarre mashup commercial featuring both products. Behold, Cup Noodle XV:
Essentially, it’s a currently-airing TV commercial for Final Fantasy XV that’s had several assets or characters from the game replaced with Nissin’s Cup Noodles.
You know what? Fine, I’ll bite. If Square Enix can release a free DLC pack for Final Fantasy XV that’s based on this commercial, I will gladly install it on my PS4’s hard drive. It’s just so unashamedly stupid — to the point of sheer ludicrousness — that I can’t help but admire the audacity of it all, even if I do still find it to be a little jarring to see real-world products in a fantasy game. I’ll even fully admit that I chuckled quite a bit at the advert.
One thing that does make this a lot more tolerable than Square Enix’s partnership with Louis Vuitton is that both companies involved in this trailer seem to be aware of the advert’s inherently silly nature. It’s a lot more lighthearted in tone, which is something that I really appreciate.
As for whether or not this is a better piece of cross-promotion than the Skyrim sweet roll or even the Schick Hydrobots that appeared during The Game Awards, who can say? Truly, 2016 has been a fantastic year for ridiculous video game-related product placements.
