Travis Scott’s ‘unboxing’ PS5 is a weirdly cool short

The PlayStation 5 finally launched yesterday, and to accompany the release, rapper Travis Scott made an epic 10-minute video celebrating the new console. The video, “A Travis Scott + Cactus Jack Experience – PS5: Unboxing Reimagined,” doesn’t feature any unboxing at all – it’s more of a short film.

Not surprisingly, there’s a decent amount of gameplay footage, showing Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart, Astro Games Room, Western forbidden horizon, and more. But all of this happens in the first few minutes, after which the video goes beyond being just a reel of games.

Scott, for some reason, plays a PS5 on a huge TV in the middle of a desert. Later, he personally gives PS5s to two lucky kids from a PS5-themed van in a parking lot. Then the video switches to a musical performance by James Blake. After that, there is a tribute to Pop Smoke, a rapper who died in February. The entire video is unlike any console marketing I’ve ever seen.

In addition to the video, Scott has released a whole range of PlayStation-themed merchandise. And you can enter to win beautiful Nikes that even have the PlayStation text logo printed on one of the soles. But entries for this contest close today, so you’ll want to enter soon if you want a chance to score them.

Image: shop.travisscott.com

Image: shop.travisscott.com

Sony announced that Scott “joined the PlayStation family as a strategic creative partner” in October, an announcement that was accompanied by an artistic short film of his own. I think today’s video and his PlayStation premiere was great, and I really hope he does more.

Scott’s work with Sony isn’t his first with video games – he had a surreal and spectacular in-game gig at Fortnite earlier this year. It was a huge success, with over 12 million people attending the first performance, which erupted Fortnite Previous live event attendance record held by the 2019 Marshmello concert.

And Scott’s PlayStation videos aren’t his only weird twists on corporate promotions. I would also like to remind you that he did an advertisement for McDonald’s in which a figurine of himself recounts his order from McDonald’s. I’ve seen the ad dozens of times now, and still find it quite charming.