Marshawn Lynch is a well-known candy eater, press conference detractor and video game fan. For the latter activity, the Seattle Seahawks All-Pro running back has joined forces with Activision to become part of the video game world’s most popular franchise in Call of Duty: Black Ops III.
ESPN nabbed Lynch for the cover of their first-ever eSports issue as he became the first athlete to appear in a Call of Duty game. How’s that for historical context?
“I’ve been in the Super Bowl, movies, music videos, Madden. But to have your own character in Duty is, I mean, it’s almost like you arrived,” Beast Mode happily stated.
Mark Lamia, the studio head of Treyarch, Call of Duty: Black Ops III‘s developer, was all about recruiting #24 once he found out he shot to kill.
“For Marshawn’s role, we needed an imposing figure,” he says. “When we learned he’s a huge fan, we thought it’d be awesome to have him inside our game.”
Lynch calls Call of Duty: Black Ops III a “relief of stress” and 16+ games of pounding the turf will generally call for that.
The debut eSports issue chronicles the long, grueling process it took for Lynch and crew to shoot their motion captures for Call of Duty: Black Ops III. The game hits stores on November 6, 2015–just in time for the holiday season. ESPN The Magazine’s eSports Issue will appear on newsstands on June 22. Flip it over to the next page to see the cover.
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Photos: ESPN
