ASMR, you know, those calming videos that you or your friends probably watch on YouTube, have become all the rage over the past few years. Starting out as a rather niche subgenre, ASMR has grown in a ton popularity and notoriety over the past year specifically and now, one video game publisher is trying to get in on the action to promote an upcoming release.
Ahead of the launch of Darksiders III next week, publisher THQ Nordic has sponsored a new series of ASMR videos from creator Ruby True that are slated to release over the course of this week. In each video, True dresses up as Darksiders III’s protagonist Fury and does a variety of calming actions. In the first of five videos that published today, True uses fire via the form of a candle to help hypnotize you.
THQ Nordic released the following statement to explain why they’re doing this collaboration:
“The holiday season kicks into high gear with Thanksgiving this week and, whilst it can feel like the end of the world for some, we’re hoping that our collaboration with Fury (aka Ruby True) will help Darksiders fans find a measure of calm amid the Apocalypse.”
What a strange thing this all is. Look, I’m not against ASMR at all. In fact, I watch it dang near every night to help fall asleep. Maybe I’m crazy, but advertising your game via ASMR just seems like an interesting use of marketing dollars. I mean come on THQ Nordic, shouldn’t you be using that money to acquire more old IPs? Then again, this could just be the future of commercialization and I’m too blind to see it at the moment.
You can see the first of this week’s new ASMR videos attached below. Every new subsequent video this week should go live on YouTube every day at 11:00 AM EST.
Darksiders III is slated to launch on PS4, Xbox One, and PC next week on November 27.