Jon Snow and Conor McGregor are playable characters in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare

WHEN looking to make a video game franchise resonate with a wider audience, including Jon Snow and Connor McGregor is a pretty good place to start.

Want to play as Jon Snow in a video game? Now you can.

IF YOU’RE looking to make your already popular video game franchise resonate with a wider audience, including Jon Snow and Conor McGregor is a pretty good place to start.

This was the logic of Infinity Ward — the development team responsible for the upcoming Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare.

The forthcoming game will feature Game of Thrones actor Kit Harington as Admiral Salen Kotch — the chief antagonist of the Settlement Defence Front.

Additionally, UFC Featherweight champion Conor McGregor will play henchman Captain Bradley Fillion.

Studio art director Brian Horton said both of these stars will not only voice the characters, but they will be developed to feature their likeness.
“We had both actors in motion capture tracking markers and even managed to capture Conor’s signature ground and pound, which will be included in the game,” he told news.com.au.

“We also did full scans of their faces, capturing not only the static face, but all the micro movements that are unique to each character.”

Mr Horton said as video games are blurring the lines between static and interactive entertainment, the team really wanted to embrace the medium.

“We wanted to create amazing cinematography by including characters that showed much more depth and emotions because it really adds to the story,” he said.

“This is why we put so much effort into making sure we had the best ensemble possible for on screen talent.”

Part of being able to include characters that looked exactly like Kit and Conor had to do with advancements in technology.

“We specifically built a new studio from the ground up to capture the performances for the game,” Mr Horton said.

“The process works by offering real-time feedback, so we can get a preview of what it is going to look like in the game.

“This allowed us to really refine the performances in Infinite Warfare.”

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare will be released November 4 for Xbox One, PC and PlayStation 4.

Activision is also releasing a remastered version of 2007’s Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, which will be available with Infinite Warfare’s premium editions.

Will you be playing the game because of Jon Snow or Conor McGregor? Continue the conversation on Twitter @mattydunn11.

Originally published as Jon Snow and Conor McGregor are playable characters in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare