Entertainment giant Tencent have released a Chinese commercial starring Will Smith for their upcoming post-apocalyptic open world multiplayer survival game Undawn.

The ad is remarkable on several fronts.

Just last year promotional posters for Dune in China were criticized for the absence of black actress Sharon Duncan-Brewster.

Apparently race representation is a prickly subject there.

Yet here we have Will Smith fronting a major video game in a live-action commercial.

Maybe he's a big enough name in China to cut through that and they also intend to release the game internationally.

Prior to last year's Oscars slap his was a very bankable name.

Will's acting credits are extensive and include more than a few action (i.e. featuring violence) films, eg. Men in Black, I Robot, Wild Wild West, Independence Day.

Undawn is a post-apocalyptic open world survival game - i.e. a zombie smashing / slicing / shooting fest.

Atomic Heart's live-action commercial starring Jensen Ackles shows him wielding several of the game's weapons against robot dummies and props to devastating effect.

In front of a child.

Which made us wince.

Then we thought about her in her wizards hat as an obvious reference to Harry Potter and competing game Hogwarts Legacy.

That's not a franchise which shields children from gruesome realities.

Undawn's commercial show's live-action Will on a beach.

Fishing, barbequeing, fawning over a motorbike and car.

No violence - except for the fishing, but only the vegetarians and vegans are likely to pick up on that.

They'd also point out that meat doesn't make it to the BBQ without violence - though the lab grown meat industry appears to set to take off in a big way, so that won't always be true.

Right at the very end there's a brief flash of animated Will swinging a baseball at a zombie.

Possibly Chinese television advertising regulations are a factor here but his slapping Chris Rock continues to make headlines nearly a full year later.

Could be some reticence about showing him committing any kind of violence which resulted in the most circumspect zombie apocalypse game promotion we've ever seen.

Undawn will release this year on PC, Android, and iOS.

This commercial details a Chinese beta commencing on February 23. We might expect the international release not too long after.

[ Main Image: Undawn commercial - Will Smith. Credit: Tencent via YouTube. ]

References

ELECTRO GAMER (February 16, 2023). will smith in Undawn | Undawn Beta trailer. YouTube.

James, Imogen (February 15, 2023). Will Smith slap handled inadequately, Oscars president says. BBC News.