Source: Ubisoft / Ubisoft Ivory Tower / The Crew Motorfest / HOONIGAN
Video games partnering with companies and brands is nothing new, but more often than not, partnerships come across as cash grabs that add nothing to the base game, but that's not the case with Crew Motorfest's cooperation with HOONIGAN.
The surprise of Ubisoft Ivory Tower The Crew Motorfest began its second season late last year, partnering with HOONIGAN to introduce a new playground to the Hawaii area that serves as a race track for players in the game.
Source: Ubisoft / Ubisoft Ivory Tower / The Crew Motorfest / HOONIGAN
A HOONIGAN is defined as “a person who operates a motor vehicle in an aggressive and unorthodox manner, consisting of, but not limited to, drifts, power-ups, donuts, as well as aero-car actions. He who mocks.'
The brand was founded by rally driver Ken Block and is considered one of the most successful viral video franchises, with over 7 million subscribers, nearly 1 billion views and numerous awards and accolades, including three Emmy Award nominations. Amazon Prime Original Series The Gymkhana Archives.
For those who don't know, Gymkhana is a type of motorsport where drivers have to 'reach the fastest possible time. Memorizing the lesson is an important part of achieving a fast time' when navigating through obstacles.
Their tricks aren't the only star in their videos. it's the custom-built vehicles that team members admit to building to really push themselves to the limit, in essence, to break them, which have also gained massive popularity.
The game already introduces elements like drifting to the game, but in the second season, in collaboration with HOONIGAN and the Gymkhana Grid Masters playlist, players become part of the brand best known for car stunts that people did not believe that it was possible.
Source: Ubisoft / Ubisoft Ivory Tower / The Crew Motorfest / HOONIGAN
HHW Gaming spoke with HOONIGAN co-founder Brian Scotto about the collaboration The Crew Motorfest during an event at Ubisoft's San Francisco office.
How did this collaboration come about?
Source: Ubisoft / Ubisoft Ivory Tower / The Crew Motorfest / HOONIGAN
So I think for us, we felt like that was a good fit [brand.] What we felt was like doing things with HOONIGAN.
The collaboration between The crew Video game franchise and HOONIGAN are a match made in heaven. Talking to Scotto about it, he revealed that he wanted to do something where the HOONIGAN brand wasn't just cosmetics and free cars to unlock.
“We were trying to have a gaming partner and we were trying to do something again where we were more involved in the game than just having our cars as a bundle or a DLC or something like that,” Scotto begins. “So when they mentioned this The crew was coming out, and knowing that the game was going to have that element where it's constantly changing and evolving, we were extremely interested. Realize that we create YouTube content and the thing about YouTube content is that you have to raise the bar every week. Every week, there has to be something new to keep people interested and keep away all the other competitors and whatever else people are doing. So I think for us, we felt like that was a good fit [brand.] What we felt was like doing things with HOONIGAN.
The Crew Motorfest It was the perfect vehicle to push Gymkhana
Source: Ubisoft / Ubisoft Ivory Tower / The Crew Motorfest / HOONIGAN
HOONIGAN's car stunts aren't easy to emulate in the real world or video game space, but Ubisoft Montreal's world and engineering The Crew Motorfest it was the perfect vehicle for Gymkhana.
“I really love a good sim game. The arcade element of that is much more common branding for what we do, and being able to just have that full open path, an open world, and just do ridiculous things, Scotto said. “We spent hours last night trying to switch between being a plane and being a boat and then landing as a car on a railway slide. And I don't know, it's fun.”
He continued, “A lot of what we do in the Gymkhana movies is just sitting there and trying to think of the craziest thing we can do. And this game, I think, kind of feeds into that. So, for me, that piece was extremely unique in terms of what we were able to do with the crew. Because we've had our cars in other games before, but what we're doing isn't really in. It's like, oh, you could race our car. Where this, the idea of creating something more respectable, spectacle and just doing the unexpected is more like what the brand is based on. So this piece is nice and unique to us.
Motorfest He records The Gymkhana Vibes
Source: Ubisoft / Ubisoft Ivory Tower / The Crew Motorfest / HOONIGAN
…we spent an hour trying to do a trick, a thing. And that's pretty much what the Gymkhana experience is for us.”
Another reason this partnership works so well is because it perfectly captures the Gymkhana experience, according to Scotto.
“Yeah, I think one of the things… I'm actually going to steal something from Mika [Diaz] he said the other day because Micah just competed in a Gymkhana event I built in Vegas. And he said what made it feel so real to life was that it was actually kind of hard to remember where you were supposed to go and follow the arrows. And that's actually one of the great parts of Gymkhana as a motorsport: you have to memorize, you have to remember where you're going. You have to pay attention to all these things. And he felt like, this is kind of real because it wasn't so easy to remember where that was supposed to be,” says Scotto. HHW Gaming.
He continues, “But I think, for us, we split Gymkhana into two things. There's the motorsport side, which is against the clock, and then there's just the film side of it, which just creates these crazy moments throughout it all. And last night, we spent an hour just trying to do one trick, one thing. And that's pretty much what the Gymkhana experience is for us.”
Brian Scotto's reveals his favorite vehicle to use in the game
Source: Ubisoft / Ubisoft Ivory Tower / The Crew Motorfest / HOONIGAN
Of course, we had to ask Scotto which of the HOONIGAN vehicles he loves to play with The Crew Motorfest. Surprisingly, he didn't choose his custom 911, his favorite vehicle in real life, but instead went with another member of Team HOONIGAN by Ron Zara custom vehicle.
“I kind of feel like the Evo, which is Ron's car, is the cheat code. Okay. It seems to be one of the easiest cars to drive. Especially for sliding tricks, Evo, I think, is the cheat code. I think the Coupe [Scotto’s Audi], my car, is easier to drive. I actually find the 911, although it's my favorite car, one of the most difficult. So I think Queens wins that time.
The Crew Motorfest was one of HHW Gaming best games of 2023. Season 2 is live right now and will be completed in the coming weeks.
So, if you still haven't had the chance to get behind the wheel of one of HOONIGAN's brand creations and take it to the unique Gymkhana Island, do yourself a favor, hit the gas and drift right there.
1. The Crew Motorfest: Hoonigan
Source: The Crew Motorfest / Hoonigan
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2. The Crew Motorfest: Hoonigan
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10. The Crew Motorfest: Hoonigan
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11. The Crew Motorfest: Hoonigan
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12. The Crew Motorfest: Hoonigan
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13. The Crew Motorfest: Hoonigan
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14. The Crew Motorfest: Hoonigan
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17. The Crew Motorfest: Hoonigan
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