Godzilla vs Kong in World of Warships: Battle of the Armored Titans

Godzilla Vs. Kong is available in Italy from May 6, and stages the fight between two giants – both literally and figuratively – of pop culture (the clash satisfied us? Find out by reading our review of Godzilla vs Kong). The resonance of the film has embraced not only a part of the debate among fans, but also the world of videogames: the naval fighting game World of Warships has in fact signed an agreement with Legendary Entertainment to represent the Kong vs Gozilla conflict even in the world of naval battles. The American battleship USS North Carolina will take the side of King Kong, while Godzilla will be responsible for the support of the Japanese battleship Amagi. We had the opportunity to ask Aleksandr Nikolaev, World of Warships Senior Publishing Producer, and Sam Rappaport, Director of Interactive for Legendary, a handful of questions about this collaboration.
Before continuing, we invite you to retrieve our special World of Warships between battleships and new ships, to discover all the content depth of the opera.

The birth of collaboration

Everyeye: In World of Warships, giants of steel collide, but we never imagined that it could be a battleground even for two giants of pop culture. We are curious: how did the partnership between Wargaming and Godzilla vs. Kong?

Alexander Nikolaev: In 2019 we were very lucky to get in touch with Legendary Entertainment as we quickly realized that our teams have a lot in common: the passion for entertainment of millions of people globally; an opening for innovative approaches; and, specifically for Godzilla vs Kong, a significant overlap of fanbase. When Godzilla: King of the Monsters came out, the World of Warship Instagram channel compared Godzilla to battleship Yamato and the post became the best performing post in 2019! Soon after, Legendary gave us a preview of the epic fight scene between Godzilla and Kong on the deck of an aircraft carrier, and we quickly realized there was a strong creative adaptation. Our partners have supported our efforts to bring these two titans to World of Warships.

Sam Rappaport: We are very eager to unveil this collaboration. Players will be able to experience firsthand the scale and immense size of Godzilla and Kong on the battleships. The designs and models the Warships team has put together are top notch and we can’t wait for fans to get their hands on these exclusive items.

Everyeye: This isn’t the first time World of Warships has hosted events with non-historical content. How does the community react on these occasions? Are there people who dislike this type of content?

Alexander Nikolaev: We are sensitive to our brand’s promise of historical authenticity and respect those players who want to stay immersed in the historical setting, so we have developed a filter in the UI settings that deactivates all non-historical images making such content purely optional.

The reactions of community members in the past depended on cultural relevance. For example, our collaborations with some anime have been very popular in Eastern communities, while they have remained niche in Western ones. Conversely, when we partnered with the Warhammer 40K or Transformers franchises, we noticed a wider interest from our Western community.

Team Godzilla e Team Kong

Everyeye: Team Godzilla will be represented by the Japanese battleship Amagi, while Team Kong by the USS North Carolina: why did you choose these two ships?

Alexander Nikolaev: As both titans are represented in their true scale. We were initially limited to using only the largest flagships. It would be weird if we put them on a destroyer or a cruiser. At the same time, we only had to choose two ships, so we decided based on popularity and added the nationality associated with each character based on the classic films.

Everyeye: In recent times some games with live services have entered into partnerships involving important names (for example Fortnite and Star Wars). What do you think are the strengths of game as a service as marketing tools and what could their future be from this point of view?

Alexander Nikolaev: When a GAAS title is successful, it usually cultivates a very loyal player base, which continues to play that product for years. In addition, the publishing teams of these works develop strong skills in communicating with the most loyal users through multiple channels, in multiple languages ​​and in various formats. This allows not only to integrate the brand into the medium with enormous visibility and importance for the public, but also to place this integration in the right context, actively participating in any subsequent conversations. Finally, GAAS titles would not have been successful without complex telemetry and strong analytical discipline that told the whole story of how players interacted with the brand. As for the future, we expect such collaborations to become a standard promotional avenue, perhaps with even more character development and storytelling components.

Sam Rappaport: It fits perfectly into Legendary’s culture to find partnerships that truly serve fans organically. After seeing the first big fight scene of Godzilla and Kong on the battleships, we knew that World of Warships would be the perfect match.. While there are many entertainment collaborations with GAAS titles that are becoming the norm, we truly believe this partnership adds a depth of experience for fans on both sides. A rising tide lifts all ships, as they say.

Everyeye: Per concludere: Team Godzilla o Team Kong?

Alexander Nikolaev: In World of Warships both characters are represented equally powerful, but I personally cheer for Godzilla because of Akira Ifukube’s awesome musical theme in classic Toho movies.

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