If it’s good enough for Keanu…: Why A-listers are no longer embarrassed to star in video games

Video game acting has come a long way since Brian Blessed was starring in ‘Privateer 2: The Darkening’, writes Ed Power. Today, stars such as Idris Elba and Jodie Comer are trading on-screen performances for pixels and voiceovers. But why?

‘Acting for video games is acting, pure and simple’: Keanu Reeves as Johnny Silverhand in the 2021 video game ‘Cyberpunk 2077’ (CD Projekt Red)

Idris Elba has seen the future, and it’s full of pixels. The star of Luther and The Wire is currently promoting his latest project, in which he plays mysterious super-spy Solomon Reed. But you won’t be able to catch his performance at the multiplex or on streaming – Reed is one of the lead characters in video game Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty.

“Games and actors have always worked together, but we’re seeing more notable film actors being moved into gaming,” explained Elba of his involvement in the dystopian thriller, which is set 54 years in the future (Phantom Liberty is an expansion to the original Cyberpunk, which came out in 2020 and is in turn based on a 30-year-old tabletop game). A-listers starring in video games were, he said, “a sign of the time”.

He’s right. In an era in which superhero movies have replaced the traditional actor-led box office hit, stars are dipping a digital toe into games. In recent years, Kit Harington, Rami Malek and even US talk show host Conan O’Brien have graced console and PC titles. One of 2023’s most acclaimed releases, fantasy adventure Baldur’s Gate 3, features Oscar winner JK Simmons as an undead general named Ketheric Thorm. Having shifted more than five million units already, Baldur’s Gate is likely to be one of the biggest successes of Simmons’s career.