It’s hard to believe, but we are now just a week away from the release of Ubisoft Toronto’s hotly-anticipated Watchdogs: Legion.
And as if I weren’t already excited enough, Ubisoft Toronto has finally released a promotional project teased during an earlier Ubisoft Forward where music is meant to get you ready for a trip to near-future London — a place where politics has gone mad.
This may be just me speaking as a podcast nerd, but when I think about politics and music in the UK grime scene, George the Poet is the first name to come to mind. If you haven’t yet heard his award-winning current events podcast, you have to give it a listen. But with the help of their British counterparts, Ubisoft Toronto settled upon Stormzy.
And I mean no disrespect to Michael Ebenezer Kwadjo Omari Owuo Jr. — better known as Stormzy. The 27-year-old rapper has gone from basement shows to headlining the mammoth Glastonbury Festival faster than it’s taken your cuppa tea to cool! He’s done it with a message that talks about being yourself and rising above your station. In his own words, he’s never felt political. He’s only felt that he’s doing what’s right. So it’s safe to say that his rebellious attitude aligns with the message Ubisoft Toronto has been teasing for this latest entry into Watch Dogs.
Speaking of Glastonbury, Stormzy is seen in the lead-up to the music video release describing his partnership with the Toronto wing of Ubisoft by recalling a call from his manager, “The excitement he phoned me with, I hadn’t heard since I got booked for Glasto[nbury].”
The result is a music video for Stormzy’s song “Rainfall” from his 2019 sophomore album “Heavy is the Head” that unfolds entirely in the Watch Dogs: Legion engine. To make this all happen, Stormzy made a visit to Ubisoft Toronto’s live capture studio located at their headquarters in the city’s west end.
David Footman, Ubisoft Toronto’s cinematics director, and his team have never shot a music video before recalls that it was scary, but exciting at the same time. The challenge came in relating what the team does in video games to the narrative style of a music video. The goal was also to make Stormzy feel like he was in the actual environment.
Take a look at the video and judge for yourself if they got it right. But more importantly, get ready to rise up.
It’s nearly time to keep calm and join Deadsec!
