This Ad for Ubisoft’s New Game Is a Heart-Pounding, Fantastic Voyage to Wild Worlds

Star light, star bright, first star I see tonight, I wish I may, I wish I might … blast off this rock and kick some intergalactic butt!

That dream comes true for an imaginative schoolboy during Ubisoft’s two-minute film touting the recent release of its Starlink: Battle for Atlas game.

Our story opens on Earth, as the kid walks through the woods at dusk and spies a shooting star. “One day, I’ll go up there, to space,” he whispers.

Fast forward maybe 15 years (in his mind’s eye, presumably), and he’s all grown up, at the controls of a space-fighter, tooling around the universe on fantastic adventures. His youthful narration continues over cinematic scenes of his older self-zipping through the skeletal remains of an ancient star beast, gliding past mecha-saur beasties, and engaging in a dazzling orbital dogfight.

“I’ll go where no one has ever been,” he says, “where everything is still to be discovered. And if there is life somewhere else, I want to be the one to find it, and fight to defend it.”

Hey, if that plan doesn’t pan out, how about a fallback? Video game designers are always in demand.

BBDO Paris and director Dan diFelice—no stranger to spacey themes (as his work for Volvo attests)—provides a zippy ride throughout. The lush terrestrial locations provide an effective contrast with the suitably surreal planetscapes. Plus, the grandeur of discovery gets more or less equal time with the battle sequences. This imbues the whole enterprise with a sense of wonder, rather than making the game feel like just another laser-crazed brawl to the finish.

That bit with the feather early in the story represents either an uplifting touch or visual sledgehammer (FLIGHT SYMBOL, RIGHT HERE!), depending on a viewer’s mood and mindset.

Combining real- and off-world settings seems apt, as Battle for Atlas features a line of modular toys (ships, weapons and such) that appear on screen during gameplay when added to a custom controller mount. The physical toys are optional, and not needed to play the game.

CREDITS:

Senior Vice President Sales and Marketing, Ubisoft: Geoffroy Sardin
EMEA Marketing Vice President, Ubisoft: Guillaume Carmona
Associate Director, Marketing, EMEA, Ubisoft EMEA: Sarah Moison
EMEA Brand Manager, Ubisoft: Justine Toxe

Agency: BBDO Paris

VICE-PRESIDENT @Proximity: Emmanuel Devezeaux de Rancougne
Account Director @clmbbdo: Nicolas Carlotti
Account Manager @clmbbdo: Lucie Lavrard
Account Manager @clmbbdo: Anais Courbez
Strategic Planner @Proximity: Nicolas Orsoni
Executive Creative Director BBDO Paris: Matthieu Elkaim
Creative Director @clmbbdo: Benjamin Dessagne
Creative Director @clmbbdo: Stephane Santana
Creative: Clement Dantzer
Creative: Quentin Kientz
Head of Production @bbdoparis: Julien Sanson
Producer @clmbbdo: Morgane Bohn
Production: Cécile Caussat

Production House: Wanda Production
Producer: Perrine Schwartz
Head of Production: Yannick le Bot
Post Producer: Vanessa Koscianski

Executive Production: Boogie Films
Director: Dan Di Felice
DOP: Steve Annis

Post Production: Framestore
Post Production: Martine Ferey