Marketing Authenticity

Rockstar Games and the Use of Cinema in Video Game Promotion

Abstract

Considering promotional materials as a source of information themselves, this article tracks how Rockstar Games position titles through cinema references. Referring to the relationship between video games and cinema, and tendencies to evaluate video games according to their “cinematic” qualities, it demonstrates Rockstar’s attempt to have an active role in coding their products as such. Through discourse analysis of selected Rockstar-authored promotion and other paratextual sites of information, it illustrates the ways in which the promotion of Max Payne 3 (2012), Red Dead Redemption (2010), and L.A. Noire (2011) encouraged identification of their relative cinematic influences and/or qualities.